Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called for the establishment of Ecclesiastical Courts in Nigeria.
The CAN chairman in Kano State, Reverend Adeolu Adeyemo, made the call in Kano at the ongoing House of Representatives public hearings on the review of the 1999 Constitution.
Also, the Bauchi state chapter of the association had also demanded for the establishment of ecclesiastical courts.
It described the provision for Shari’a Courts and Shari’a commissions without corresponding Ecclesiastical courts and commissions to attend to the yearnings of Christians, as marginalization and discrimination against Christians.
Ecclesiastical court is a court where Christian Canon laws are applied and are an instrument of judicial administration in the same way as Islamic laws are an instrument of judicial administration in Shari’a courts.
The Kano CAN chairman said Christians in Nigeria are of the belief that Nigeria should remain a truly secular state as is clearly enshrined in Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution by expunging all the provisions pertaining to the Shari’a court system.
He argued that in the case where that is not implemented, the proposed constitutional amendment should equally establish Ecclesiastical courts to balance the existence of Shari’a Courts in Nigeria.
