US Expert Urges Nigeria to Scrap Sharia Law, Dissolve Hisbah

Ebenezer Obadare, a Douglas Dillon senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), has called on the United States to pressure Nigeria to make Sharia law unconstitutional and disband the Hisbah, the Muslim religious police operating in the country’s northern states.

Obadare made the appeal while testifying as an expert witness at a roundtable convened by US lawmakers on Tuesday in Washington, focusing on Nigeria’s rising insecurity and the reported persecution of Christians. US lawmakers described the killings in northern Nigeria as “a targeted campaign of religious cleansing” and urged swift action to prevent further loss of lives.

The CFR fellow attributed the violence primarily to jihadist groups, especially Boko Haram, describing their activities as “a barbarous campaign to overthrow the Nigerian state and establish an Islamic caliphate.” He stressed that any attempt to resolve Nigeria’s security crisis must first tackle the threat posed by these terror groups.

Obadare suggested that incentives and sustained pressure could influence the Nigerian government to act decisively. He cited past examples, including Nigeria’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern and threats of unilateral US military action against Boko Haram, which led to measures such as airstrikes on Boko Haram targets, recruitment of 30,000 additional policemen, and the declaration of a national security emergency.

“The United States must continue to engage with Nigeria,” Obadare said. “The objective should be twofold: to work with the Nigerian military to neutralise Boko Haram and to push President Tinubu to render Sharia law unconstitutional in the 12 northern states and disband Hisbah units enforcing religious law on all citizens, regardless of faith.”

Sharia law has been applied as the main civil and criminal code in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority northern states since 1999. While officially not applicable to Christians, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has reported instances of Hisbah targeting Christians.