Bunady
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has said that there are Shariah panels in all Southwest Nigerian states, namely Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti. He, however, added that all Shariah panels established across southwestern region of Nigeria lack the power to enforce their judgements....TAP TO READ THE FULL CONTENT | TAP TO READ THE FULL CONTENT
This was stated by the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, during an interview with SaharaReporters on Wednesday.
Akintola said the panels are like committees without power to enforce their decisions on the parties that appear before them.
He described the speculations that the panel will be entertaining criminal matters and imposing Islamic law punishments as untrue.
“People are spreading blatant lies. The Shariah panels are for civil matters. It cannot go into criminal matters. The Shariah panels also have no power of enforcement. Its judgement cannot be enforced. It is voluntary,” Akintola told SaharaReporters.
He continued: “Those who go there go there voluntarily. It cannot send anybody to jail. It cannot seize anybody’s property. It is just a committee. Even in the church, they have their own committee. They have finance committee. They have logistics committee. They have planning committee.
“If they are doing a festival, and the planning committee imposes N20,000 contribution on each church member, can they arrest any church member that does not pay? They can’t do that because they don’t have that power. So also, the Shariah panel has no power to arrest any Muslims who refuse to comply with its decision.”
SaharaReporters had reported the Independent Shari’ah Arbitration Panel in Ekiti State held its first public sitting at the popular Oja Oba Central Mosque, Ado-Ekiti last Thursday.
