Vanguard

Adegbite Blasts Agabi Over Comment On Sharia

March 25, 2002

Kolade Larewaju

SECRETARY-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Dr. Lateef Adegbite yesterday blasted the Minister of Justice, Mr. Kanu Agabi over his recent statement on sharia describing the attorney-general s statement as a "misguided bombshell."

Dr. Adegbite said that the minister s comment on sharia was uncalled for and that if sanctioned it could provoke religious protest as Muslims would not jettison sharia.

 The NSCIA scribe spoke in Abeokuta at the formal launching of a new Islamic publication titled "What s wrong with Muslims?" at the auditorium of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB).

 Faulting the attorney-general s comments, Dr. Adegbite said that the Nigerian constitution was explicit that each state of the federation was vested with the power to ensure order and good government within its territory.

 "this is the source of the power exercised by those states of the federation that have upgraded their penal codes to accommodate sharia crimes and punishments not previously provided for.

 "Since the Nigerian constitution entrenches freedom of religion, Muslims are entitled to protect their religion fully as enchained in the Quran and the Hadiths of the prophet. Our religion cannot be defined for us by non-Muslims within or outside this country," he said.

 Dr. Adegbite said that the attorney-General s statement that Muslims were liable to more severe punishments than theirs non-Muslim counter-parts for the same offence was preposterous as he did not seem to understand true nature of Islam.

 "Muslims do not question what Allah has prescribed. We take the good with the bad. We seek his grace and avoid his wrath. He has indicated the right way as distinct from the wrong one. if we transgress the latter, we accept the consequences wholeheartedly".

 He then called on Muslims who he said were on the majority in the country to abandon their non-challance and desist from imitative tendencies.

 He said: "Islam has to be vigorously defended and we need to make it clear at all times that we are Muslims not Christians, not Buddhists not Hindus.

 Our faith is strict and we shall uphold it and practice the way we would not the way others want us to."