Justice Abdurraheem Sayi, the Qadi of the Shari’ah Court of Appeal, Kwara State, has argued that Southwest governors do not have the power to stop the Shari'a panels, noting that approval of state authorities or traditional rulers is not needed for Muslims to establish and operate Shari’ah arbitration panels in the South-West.
He averred that the objections to Shari’ah arbitration panels in the South-West has no legal basis, and an embarrassment to legal minds, and a mere expression of Islamophobia syndrome” that had been deliberately ignored by the affected states.
Justice Sayi made this known while delivering a lecture on “Shari’ah in South-West Nigeria” at the University of Lagos Muslim Alumni 30th Pre-Ramadan Lecture, themed “The Transformative Power of Ramadan,” which was held at the J.F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium, UNILAG, on Sunday,
The lecture, had in attendance Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, Ogun Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako, and other dignitaries, which was aimed at dispelling misconceptions about Shari’ah law and arbitration in the region.
He noted that arbitration is a contractual matter that does not require government approval, stating, “There’s no confusion in the Nigerian Constitution. Arbitration is by contract.
“Nobody needs the approval of the Federal Government to operate it. As powerful as the President is, his authority does not extend to approving the Constitution of an arbitration panel. It is purely contractual.”
He stated that, “We don’t need the approval of any state authority, let alone a monarch. Associations, including political parties, can establish small committees to resolve disputes involving their members.
“All the Muslim panels that I know of always hold their sittings inside mosques. What business do pastors or monarchs have in this matter? Somebody should tell the monarchs to know their boundaries.”
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