Nigerian leaders implore president to end ‘sharia’

KADUNA, Nigeria — Church and government leaders in northern Nigeria are growing restless over President Olusegun Obasanjo’s failure to prevent northern states from using sharia law to persecute Christians. Nigeria’s northern Christian leaders have demanded that Obasanjo’s government put a stop to the Islamic law practiced in 12 northern states. Saidu Dogo, secretary general of the northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said the organization has written Obasanjo about Muslims demolishing church buildings, rejecting applications to build new churches and denying land to Christians. “Yet, we see mosques being built on every corner of the streets — you don’t even need government approval in these states to build mosques,” Dogo said. In Jos, capital of central Nigeria’s Plateau state, Gov. Joshua Dariye spoke out against Islamic abuses resulting from sharia law when he received the governor of northern Zamfara state, the first state to adopt sharia in 2000.