Human Right Activist and Lawyer, chief Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo said, “It is shameful and deeply irresponsible for a professor who should enlighten the public to instead mislead his followers by collapsing the two concepts into one.. Nigeria is a constitutional democracy, not a theocracy.
In a statement he personally issued following a recent statement made by the founder of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), professor Ishaq Lakin Akintola that Nigerians are attacking Islam or Muslim personal life, claiming that “Shari’a is Muslims’ way of life and will not be abandoned due to pressure from the United States or any Christian influencer”, chief Omirhobo stated that, “It is nothing but intellectual fraud.”
Chief Omirhobo stressed that, “Nigerians deserve to be properly educated:that the Shari’a that no one is complaining about is the civil aspect ( marriage, inheritance, personal law ) which is equivalent to customary law in the South and is validly recognised under the Nigerian legal system.
“The national concern is the criminal justice version of Shari’a, which: prescribes death for blasphemy, authorises stoning to death , Imposes amputations of hands and legs, enforces other punishments unknown to the Nigerian Constitution, and directly conflicts with Chapter IV on Fundamental Human Rights.
“To pretend that Nigerians are attacking Islam or Muslim personal life is dishonest and dangerous. No one is dragging Muslims for practising civil Shari’a. The alarm being raised is about the parallel criminal justice system illegally operating in 12 states a system that exists outside the Constitution, violates federal supremacy, and undermines Nigeria’s legal uniformity.
It is shameful and deeply irresponsible for a professor who should enlighten the public to instead mislead his followers by collapsing the two concepts into one.. Nigeria is a constitutional democracy, not a theocracy.
“No state has the authority to enforce criminal sanctions outside what the Constitution and the Criminal Code/Penal Code permit.
“MURIC is free to defend Islam. but it must not distort facts, misinform the public, or hide the unconstitutional nature of Shari’a criminal justice behind emotional blackmail and religious sentiment.
Nigeria will not progress if intellectuals become merchants of deception.”
