Dare Babalola
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has rejected calls by some United States lawmakers asking Nigeria to abolish Sharia law, citing domestic jurisdiction.
Pushing back against foreign interference, Bwala, in an interview on Arise Television on Thursday insisted that the US has no legal or moral authority to dictate constitutional changes to a sovereign nation.
He stressed that external interference on Nigeria’s constitutional affairs is a threat to national sovereignty.
When asked whether the US government had the right to push Nigeria to disband Sharia law in northern states or amend its constitution, Bwala said, “They don’t have the locus. In doing that, it will amount to infringing on the territorial integrity and territorial right of a country.”
He maintained that even the recent military threat of President Donald Trump was inconsistent with international norms and the US convention.
The presidential aide clarified that Sharia law applies in 12 northern states as a state-specific legal system, enabled by Nigeria’s federal arrangement, not imposed federally.
“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 are invited by that country, or you are at war with that country, or the United Nations asks you to be in that country.
“Sharia law is not a national law. We also practice the federal system of government, although their own is more advanced,” he stated.
