In a bid to allay fears following the sponsor of a “Sharia expansion bill”, by Abdullahi Salame (APC-Sokoto), Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday said Nigeria is not interested in the bill at least for now. While allaying fears over a possible amendment of Sharia law to cover more jurisdiction, Osinbajo said such an amendment was not possible within the confines of the legislature alone.
Speaking yesterday in Lagos at a ‘State of the Nation’ colloquium organised by the Coalition of Nigerian Apostolic Leaders, he said: “First of all, it is not right at all that the Federal Government is interested in any Sharia bill. Every bill that is a government bill must come from the Attorney- General of the Federation.
“This Sharia bill was presented by somebody within the National Assembly and my understanding is that it has not even passed the second reading. “But lets even assume that it did, you can’t change a Nigeria law without a constitution amendment.
Sharia is in the Constitution since 1979 and it applies to Muslims on issues of marriage, inheritance and others. Any change, whatsoever, cannot come by the way of amendment within the National Assembly, it has to be by Constitutional amendment.
“Aside from both the Senate and House of Representatives, amendment of Constitution must go to two-thirds of the states; 24 states must say they want it. So, it is not possible, we should not waste our time and energy on it,” he said.
