APC condemns scrap of Sharia Commissions by Zamfara Govt

From brahim Kaulahi, Gusau

The All Progressives Congress APC Zamfara State chapter has condemned in strong terms the circular of restructuring of Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) signed by the permanent secretary cabinet affairs, Lawal Hussain and shared to the public for immediate implementation

In a statement by the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Malam Yusuf Idris, saying his party has observed that the  circular is anti Sharia and the progress of Islamic teachings in the Shari’ah practicing state which is ever made in the state which gradually dismantled the Islamic structure without recourse to the possible implications.

According to the statement, the scrapped Islamic Sharia component includey, Qur’anic Recitation and Tajweed Agency, Sharia Research and Development Commission, Public Complaint Commission, Anti Corruption Commission,  Directorate for Qur’anic Schools and Islamic organisations, Islamic Preaching, Jumaat Mosques and Eid Praying Grounds Establishment Regulation Commission.

“Even if the Governor considers himself an Abuja boy, he should know that he is now the Governor of Zamfara State where close to 100 percent of the citizens are Muslims and on which foundation the state has been able to attained stability.

“It is now crystal clear that the Governor is all out to sprinkle acid in all the segments of Islam in the state starting with the sacking of the Ulama Consultative Council from the government house and reallocated the secretariat to his wife who has no constitutional role in the governance.

“The Ulama Consultative Council secretariat was operating at the Government House because of it’s key role played in advising the Governor as well as drawing his attention on matters of governance in the purview of Islam so that he will not falter in being fair to all and sundry.

It further lamented that, “The Governor who felt he could single handedly change the law because nobody can challenge him, has decided to expel the council from the facility, reducey their powers by throwing the high ranking scholars who are vast in Islamic jurisprudence to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and not giving them an office or any role.

“The governor needs to know that the Ulama Consultative Council (UCC) was established in order to monitor all the laws that are to be passed by the State House of Assembly to ensure that they comply with Sharia to give Islamic Fatwah which guided the Government in its activities, and to prepare examinations and interviews for new intake of Sharia Court Judges as well as to advise the Governor on important and complicated issues.

“Other functions of the said scrapped Islamic establishment, was to supervise the activities of Sharia implementing agencies as well as all other Government agencies in order to ensure Sharia  compliance, and to guide Pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, and to assist in resolving complicated disputes.

The UCC is made up of highly responsible scholars and activists from among the society as well as members of the university communities from within and outside the state.

“The UCC has always been directly under the office of the Governor with it’s office inside the government house which now Governor Dauda Lawal has removed and domicile it under the ministry for religious affairs as a Parastatal.

“Again Qur’anic recitation, memorization, Tajweed and other related matters that shape the people especially youths to be of good religious background has suffered in the new negative policies of the governor against Islam as the Quranic Recitation and Tajweed Agency which was established in 1999 to improve Quranic memorisation and Tajweed among Youths, prepare  Musabaqa, lead Tahajjud prayers in Mosques throughout the state during the month of Ramadhan.

“Similarly, the Sharia Research and Development Commission has faced the Dauda fangs where he disbanded it thereby throwing it to the winds the legal mandates of the commission backed by the state House of Assembly laws which is to among others carryout research on the position of sharia on important issues concerning the public and to suggest ways of developing Sharia implementation in the state for the good of all.

“The scrap action didn’t consider the future of the over 20,000 staffers of the affected Sharia Commission and their family members, therefore, we condemned this in strong words of displeasure, and we call on the Governor to immediately restore all the scrapped Sharia implementation commissions in the state”, the statement further reads.