Challenges of Sharia Adjudications in a Multi-Religious Society

Application of Sharia, the Islamic law in Nigeria, has generated unending debates among various religious adherents in colonial and post-colonial eras. Despite being recognised as a source of law under the Nigerian Constitution, Sharia is partially applied in the northern part of the country, while in the southern region its application has been elusive to date. Consequently, Yoruba Muslims of Southwestern Nigeria have been agitating for the statutory recognition and enforcement of Islamic law but to no avail. In the absence of this, some scholars and legal practitioners for over two decades have used the platform of independent adjudication to settle cases of succession, marriage, divorce and others, aiming at dowsing the tension of protracted lawsuits and non-compliance with the Sharia provisions often witnessed by Muslim litigants; hence, the birth of the Independent Sharia Panels (ISPs). These non-conventional courts of law are found in Lagos, Oyo and Osun States. This paper analytically examines the challenges of Sharia application in Yorubaland, reviews the institutionalisation of ISPs in the absence of statutory Sharia courts and enumerates the challenges facing adjudication of Islamic law by these independent juries. It is suggested that, to enthrone peace and justice as enshrined in Islam and the Nigerian Constitution, Muslims in the southwestern states of Nigeria should intensify issue-based and non-violent agitations for the statutory recognition and application of Sharia in the region while ISP juries must standardise all processes of Sharia adjudication as obtainable in regions where Islamic law application reigns supreme.