Some Nigerian Islamic clerics and leaders have rejected the recommendation by a committee of the United States Congress demanding the scrapping of Sharia codes and anti-blasphemy, among other laws in Nigeria.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Appropriations Committee submitted a joint report on “Christian persecution in Nigeria” to the White House on Monday, on insecurity in Nigeria, called for the disarming of Fulani herdsmen, and blocking export of beef and other cattle-related products to Ivory Coast, Ghana, South Africa, and Senegal.
Other recommendations made by the committee include engaging a deal agreement between the United States and Nigeria to protect vulnerable Christian communities from violent persecution, eliminate jihadist terrorists, expand economic cooperation, and counter adversaries from the Chinese Communist Party and the Russian Federation.
The deal should cover co-fund donor-supported humanitarian assistance – including through faith-based organisations – and to prioritise underserved communities of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and their host communities, especially in the predominantly Christian Middle Belt region.
The committee wants support and response to early-warning mechanisms to prevent attacks and kidnappings, including by deploying sufficient and capable security forces to the Middle Belt to enable rapid and effective response, and hold those who ignore the warnings accountable.
remove Fulani militias from confiscated, productive farmland and enable the voluntary return of displaced communities to their homes; technical support to Nigeria to reduce and then eliminate violence from armed Fulani militias, through demobilisation, disarmament, and reintegration program to address illicit weapons and support safer communities while allowing farmers to engage in legitimate self-defence, among others.
Reacting to this development, a former aide to President Bola Tinubu, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said the US Congress recommendation on Sharia in Nigeria was provocative.
Speaking with Daily Trust on the issue, Dr Hakeem, who is a former spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), said “if the said recommendations are true, then it is time to take the nature of our current relationship with the US more seriously.”
He said “the recommendations on scrapping Sharia and criminal blasphemy laws are deliberately provocative, intended to reopen settled constitutional issues that are part of the fabric of our nation. There is no evidence that Christians exclusively are victims of killers and kidnappers.
According to Dr. Baba-Ahmed, the recommendations were a ploy by the US to weaken Nigeria’s government’s capacity to protect the country’s sovereignty and ability to fight insecurity.
“Proposals to bestow advantages exclusively on Nigerian Christians are crude attempts to dampen inter-faith relations. Only unforgivable ignorance or dangerous mischief will support any argument that Nigerian Christians can be isolated and protected at the expense of non-Christian Nigerians. We are a country designed to co-exist and share in fortunes and setbacks”, Dr Hakeem said.
He urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stand up to the Americans in defence of Nigeria.
Also reacting, a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Halliru Maraya, described the recommendations as “sensitive and double-edged,” warning that it could either engender peace or widen divisions in Nigeria.
He accused the US Congress of portraying the violence as targeting only one faith group, saying “both Muslims and Christians are at the receiving end. The perpetrators are not sparing one religion against the other—they kill everyone.”
Sheikh Maraya said any US intervention must respect Nigeria’s sovereignty and align with its laws.
He recalled that between 2015 and 2023, more than 4,000 people were killed by gunmen, most of them from Muslim-dominated local communities such as Giwa and Igabi Local Governmnet Areas in Kaduna State
“If Congress had carried out a thorough and unbiased inquiry, they would have found that the carnage affects all faiths, including non-believers,” he argued.
Similarly, another Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, said Nigerian Muslims have the right to Shariah law in Nigeria, and accused the US of double standards.
He said “Shariah Law is the Muslims’ prerogative just as the US found it only necessary to protect the Christians,” he said, adding that “It’s ok for US evangelical Christians administration for Israel to live by biblical stories yet Haram for Muslims to live by the Quranic injunctions.”
According to Gumi, Nigerians Muslims suffer what he described as “occult terror” imported into the country by hidden forces, saying “Nigerian Muslims are more victims of this occult terror imported into the country by hidden forces they very well know,” Gumi stated.
Also speaking on the matter, a prominent political scientist, Prof Jibrin Ibrahim, has condemned the United States for its simplistic interpretation of Nigeria’s security crisis, saying the country’s sovereignty must not be compromised under the guise of foreign concern.
While agreeing that Washington can express concerns about certain people being killed in Nigeria, Prof Jibrin said the US do not have the right to dictate Nigeria’s security policies.
He attributed much of the violence in Nigeria by rampant banditry to competition over resources and not targeted at any specific religious group, saying armed groups often attack anyone who stands in their way, regardless of faith or ethnicity.
“So, it’s very complex, and there are many dimensions. And I don’t see that complexity in the reports by the Americans.”
He accused the Tinubu administration of reluctancy to firmly assert Nigeria’s independence in the face of foreign commentary.
“I argued previously that the Tinubu administration has basically sold out our sovereignty to the Americans. They feel the Americans are the ones who have understanding, who have a voice, and who have the right to do what they want,” he said.
