Obasanjo on the imposition of the Shar’ia in Zamfara

Islamic laws, collectively known as the Shari’a, contradict Nigeria’s federal constitution and its application in Zamfara State is likely to fail, President Olusegun Obasanjo told an audience last weekend at Harvard University in Boston, United States. “People have their own way of doing things. But I don’t think it will last: and people should not hit their heads against the wall,” he said. The governmet of Zamfara last week imposed the Shari’a in the northern Nigerian state. Just days later, the House of Assembly of the southern state of Cross River said it might declare itself a “Christian state” if Obasanjo failed to halt the implementation of the Shari’a. In a resolution passed on Monday, the legislators said the federal government should ensure that oil resources of the Delta states are not used to implement the Shari’a in Zamfara.