By SULEIMAN SHEHU

Some Muslim groups have said the demand for the establishment of Shari?ah Courts was not an agenda to Islamise Nigeria.

The groups, Concerned Yoruba Muslims Scholars in Nigeria and the Supreme Council for Shari?ah in Nigeria, stated this at a news conference in Ibadan on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the new conference is tagged ?State of the Nation?.

Sheikh AbdurRasheed Hadiyatullahi, President, Supreme Council for Shari?ah in Nigeria, said Sharia Courts were exclusively for Muslims and parties who wish to be adjudicated according to Shari?ah principles.

He said the establishment should not be misconstrued as a prejudice to the rights of non-Muslims or an agenda to Islamise Nigeria.

He said Yoruba Muslims bear no grudge against anyone and would continue to be tolerant of adherents of other faiths.

Hadiyatullahi appealed to Nigerians and those in positions of authority to allow Muslims to implement their God-given and constitutional rights to adjudicate with the law of their religion.

?The failure of state governors in the South-West to formally establish Shari?ah Courts of Appeal led to the setting up of independent Sharia panels across various Muslim communities.

?This does not violate any law; rather, it helps to resolve many disputes that could have to queue at our already congested, unaffordable, strenuous and time-consuming bureaucratic process of conventional court processes.

?The genuine Yoruba Muslims, mostly populated in South-West Nigeria, therefore, demand for the establishment of Shari?ah Courts as being operated, constitutionally, in some other states,? he said.

The former Executive Secretary of Muslim Ummah South-West Nigeria (MUSWEN), Prof. Daud Noib, said the public needed to be educated on Shari?ah Court.

He added that those against it were ignorant of its application.

The groups further demanded fair representation in the appointments of Muslims from President Bola Tinubu.

In attendance were Prof. Kamil Oloso, former Lecturer, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, and Prof. Ishaq Akintola, Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), among others. (NAN, excluding headline)

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