An Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has criticised Governor Seyi Makainde of Oyo State for failing to receive proper briefing before opposing Shari?ah.

According to a statement issued by the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Friday, the group said ?Makinde spoke in ignorance of the true situation on the ground.?

The group advised government officials to get adequate briefing before commenting on issues particularly sensitive matters like religion.

?Governor Makinde spoke from a position of ignorance about the subject matter, particularly about the true situation on ground. It is advisable for government officials to get adequate briefing before commenting on issues particularly sensitive matters like religion.

?This is so because neither Muslims nor Christians can allow anyone, not even a governor, to ridicule their religion. That is why any government that does not want to be embarrassed should not make frivolous statements that can be debunked even by children in kindergarten classes.

?To this end, it has come to our knowledge that shortly after some uninformed and misguided Yoruba youths declared publicly that they did not want Shari?ah in Yorubaland, Governor Makinde announced in a viral video clip that Shari?ah was not in the constitution which he swore to defend.

?But Makinde lied. Shariah is in the constitution. It is either the governor feigned ignorance of it for reasons best known to him or he was not properly briefed. We expected the governor to have consulted the legal arm of his government before uttering that fallacious statement?, Prof Akinola said.

The MURIC boss said section 275(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria allows the states to establish Shari?ah Courts of Appeal.

He said the governor was leveraging a typographical error committed by the organisers of the Shari?ah programme in Oyo town who wrote ?Court? instead of ?Panel? in the invitation sent out which reads: ?Inauguration Ceremony of Shariah Court in Oyo Town and its Environs? but should have read: ?Inauguration Ceremony of Shariah Panel in Oyo Town and its Environs?.

He said, ?The governor deliberately exploited the typographical error because we know that he cannot claim to be unaware of the existence of many Shari?ah panels in Yorubaland.

?A Shariah Panel has been sitting at the Central Mosque in Oja Oba, established since 1st May, 2002 to date. Makinde met the panel there and it will still be there when he leaves office in 2027. There is nothing he can do about that.

?Shari?ah panels are spread all over Yorubaland. It has been in Lagos since 1993. Ogun State got its own Shari?ah panel on 17th January, 2018 and its first sitting took place on 2nd February of the same year at the Egba Muslims Central Mosque, Kobiti, Abeokuta.

?Oshogbo got a taste of the Shari?ah panel in 2005 and it is on record that conventional courts in Osun refer Imamate and inheritance cases to the Shari?ah panel. The latest and newest is the 11-member Ekiti State Shari?ah Arbitration Panel which was sworn in on Friday, 1st November, 2024.

?These Shari?ah panels were established as alternative dispute settlement centres for Muslims. They are not conventional courts per se but channels for Muslims to ventilate family disputes and vehicles for tackling Muslim civil matters like inheritance, marriage and divorce which can only be understood and satisfactorily resolved by experts in Islamic law?.

MURIC advised government officials and the general public in Yorubaland to understand the concept of civil Shari?ah.

He said Muslims, Christians and traditionalists must learn to peacefully coexist.

?We must learn to tolerate Muslim civil Shari?ah just as the Muslims have been tolerating Christian laws and their courts for decades.

?Yoruba people must not listen to those inciting them against their Muslim neighbours. There is nothing to fear in ordinary Shari?ah panel. Beware, the Bible warns: ?My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee ?? (Hosea 4:6),? he said.

The MURIC executive director therefore appealed to Muslims in Oyo State in particular and Yorubaland in general to ignore all forms of provocations.

?Islam is a religion based on knowledge and peaceful behaviour. We must therefore manifest patience and maturity at all times,? he added. (Daily Trust: Text, Excluding Headline)

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