The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, on Thursday, faulted recent calls by some United States lawmakers urging Nigeria to abolish Sharia law, describing the move as an infringement on the country’s sovereignty and constitutional integrity.
Speaking on Thursday during an interview on Arise Television, Bwala said any such foreign interference in Nigeria’s internal legal framework is both unacceptable and a violation of international norms.
“They don’t have the locus,” Bwala stated, responding to whether the US government had any right to compel Nigeria to abolish Sharia law in the northern states or amend its constitution.
“In doing that, it’ll amount to infringing on the territorial integrity and territorial right of a country,” he added.
He stressed that Nigeria operates a federal system that allows for diversity in legal structures across states.
“Sharia law is not a national law. We also practice federal system of government, although their own is more advanced,” Bwala explained.
Bwala also dismissed US President Donald Trump’s alleged threat of possible military intervention in Nigeria, stating that such a move would violate international legal standards.
He said, “Even the threat of possible military invasion is not consistent with the US convention, because there are only three conditions upon which another country can invade militarily.
“Either you’re invited by that country, or you are at war with that country, or the United Nations asks you to be in that country.”
Bwala’s remarks come in the wake of a congressional briefing in the US, where lawmakers were urged to push for the abolition of Sharia law and the disbandment of Hisbah religious police in Nigeria.
At the hearing, Dr. Ebenezer Obadare, a Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, claimed extremist groups such as Boko Haram and ISWAP “weaponise Sharia-based institutions and Hisbah operatives to advance extremist ideology, enforce forced conversions, and operate unchecked in many communities.”
Bwala, however, insisted that constitutional amendments in Nigeria are a domestic affair, beyond the purview of any foreign power.
“We differ with them on this idea of amending our constitution. Nigeria is a sovereign state, has never been colonised by America anywhere and we are not Venezuela,” he declared.
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