Gbemiga Kolajo, Ikeja, Lagos

Safiya Tudu Must Not Die

31/12/2001

I want to thank your newspaper for your frank editorial comment in THIS DAY of 4h December on the pending case of Safiya Tudu of Sokoto State

I have personally been following the case in quiet anger. But I became extremely provoked when I read in THISDAY of December 7th, a statement credited to Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State that nobody can stop his State Government from stoning Safiya to death.

As you rightly summarised in your editorial comment, it is time the Sharia legal system is subjected to scrutiny. As far as this writer is concerned, the first offender in the case of adultery for which Safiya is condemned is her lover. The reason being that for as long as there is man, there would be adultery. As a matter of fact, the authorities in the states that are practising the sharia legal system are not sincere. Otherwise after the introduction of the Sharia, a lot of the elites in these states would either be going about with their wrists already chopped off or they would languishing in jails upon the collection of many strokes of the cane on their buttocks. Some elites by now would even have been stoned to death considering the nefarious activities being perpetrated by them. It is now apparent that the Sharia legal system is meant for the down trodden and not for the rich. And I am baffled why the masses in these states are condoning this injustice.

 As much as I commend the group of women in the southern part of the country who recently cried out that Safiya must not die, I want to mention that the women group need to do more. The southern women need to educate or even incite their women folk in the north to rise up to the occasion and free themselves from bondage. The women in North should apply all legitimate means to ensure that Safiya is not killed. If need be, the women should pending the conclusion of Safiya's case, refuse their spouses sexual advances or even abandon totally their other domestic responsibilities.

 At this juncture, I want to emphasise that members of the National Assembly had so far clearly demonstrated that they are not up and doing concerning matters of general interest of the masses. They would rather draw daggers on issues concerning budgetary allocations or on matters concerning the smelly electoral bill. But when it comes to matters affecting human life, they careless. If and when some of these legislators travel out to other civilised countries, I wonder what their answers would be if they are asked why women in Nigeria are still being stoned to death for committing adultery. Or why wrists are being chopped off for petty thefts. For goodness sake certain religion extremists must be emphatically told the gospel truth that Nigeria is not Afghanistan and that this is 21st century and not mediaeval times.

I hope that the Sokoto State Sharia Court of Appeal would overrule the judgement of the lower Sharia court. But if afterall Safiya Hussaini Tudu is killed, this writer would with any hesitation renounce his Nigerian citizenship. And he is dead serious.

Mas'ud Haruna, Kano

Safiya, Sharia and The 21st Century

31/12/2001

There are, in existence, hundreds of thousands of women bearing the name 'SAFIYA" in Nigeria, especially in north. To every Newspaper reader or international radio listener, however, the name sounds technical as if Safiya, the lady sentenced to death via stoning by sharia court in Sokoto State for committing adultery is the only ONE in the world. As soon as the name is heard or seen, the listeners or readers mind simply reflects Sokoto. This is of course, is not unconnected to the rapid calls by groups and individuals on the Sokoto State governments to commute the sentence to a midler level, probably life jail. This points to one important thing; that despite the way Nigerians have been devilishly engaging themselves in tribe-religious wars, there is still mutual love and sympathy in their minds. I would not simply believe that these calls to spare Safiya are born by intention to oppose the Sharia legal system. If my assumptions is right, let me then use this opportunity to advise Nigerians Almighty God has brought us together through colonial arrangement and given us everything that a country requires for independence. Our lief is already interlocked with, for instance, Hausa man living for almost a century in the Far West and East. Yoruba in the far North and East, Igbo in the Far West and North and so on. We need one another for our easy survival. We therefore must recognise and respect one another's religion, culture, and value. In summary, we must learn to live and live together.

 Calls to spare Sayifa have been backed with various reasons. While Mr. Dokun Oloyede (THISDAY 25/11/2001) opines that " much as the aim of Shari'ah at cleansing the society is generally appreciated, the code comes in to conflict with modern philosophy in crime and punishment, Chris Anyanwu (THISDAY 2/12/2001) expressed that " stoning a nursing mother to death in the 21st century Nigeria" takes us back to the years of military dictatorship when we were seen as a nation and a people without value for human life", and so on. A unifying point from both callers is that Safiya should be spared at least for her baby. I can't blame people for expressing their views and understanding meaningful despite this being a religious inside affair. One would rather appreciate the tone of the calls: soft and pleading. They really want Safiya spared!

 While recognising and appreciating the right and effort of people to call and appeal for mercy , I have this to say: like any other muslim, I know that Sharia is a Qura'anic injunction. Allah (SWT) who revealed the holy Quran did not limit the laws contained in it any century or generation fully knowing that 21st and probably higher centuries were on the way with all their superior civilisation over the early ones. Shariah, therefore, is all time code of conduct hence not subject to any amendment or repealing due time. Inventions of time can however, be employed to enhance it ( in my view) like the application of DNA to establish the actual man responsible for the like of Safiya's pregnancy so that he too is punished along. As to Mr. Oloyede's point of modern philosophy, he should recall that doing what is believed to be Almighty God's injuction is superior to any philosophy. It is rather the modern philosophy, that comes into conflict with the Shariah since the later is older than the former. Also Chris Anyanwu's point to spare Safiya so that we are seen as a nation and people that give value to human lief is not a reason because in real Islamic philosophy, true worship means readiness of the worshipper to sacrifice his life and property for the worshipped. This was depicted by Prophet Abraham (AS) who showed full submission and commitment to slaughter his beloved son, Isma'il (AS) , on an instruction from God. If stoning an offender to death on instruction from God is termed fundamentalism or extremism, what name would you accord the action of Prophet Abraham? The feeling that some religious injunctions are not compatible with the modern world is a testimony that western countries are winning in their campaign. How can we believe in the continued existence of God and at the same time feel that his laws are out-fashioned? We better weigh our feeling and words.

 Another point of argument is sympathy. It is so good for a person to have sympathy, but in punishment, it should not close our mind against the weigh of offence.

 Practitioners of adultery/fornication are people of multiple offences.Apart from offending their creator, they do a lot of damage to the society, they disseminate sexual diseases ( e.g HIV) contamiante family, produce life long frustrated children at least due to the feeling of illegitimacy and which likely to become problem to the society, etc.

 No wonder, in the Holy Quran after mention of their punishment, Allah (SWT) said" And sympathy for them should not out-weigh you if you (actually) believe in God and the last day.

 Lastly, this article is not aimed at stopping my good people from showing concern, but our points should be reasonable on religious perspective. Rather than calling to stop punishment after a person is establishment guilty, I would prefer any body or group showing concern to direct their pressure on an important point: In any state that chooses to implement the Shari'ah, it should be empowered to work on every Muslim;rich and poor, governing and the governed. In this way, God will bless it to cleanse the society as desired.  .