Muslim Organisation and the Mobilisations for Sharia Law in northern Nigeria: The JNI and The NSCIA

Abstract

This paper examines the role of Muslim religious organisations in northern Nigeria as religious interest groups in relation to government decision-making, including their role as ‘superior Muslim influence’ in the introduction and dissemination of Sharia law in 12 northern states in Nigeria. Two of the most prominent Muslim organisations in Nigeria, the J’amatu Nasril Islam (JNI) and Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), are examined in this regard to compare and highlight their lobbying strategies in their attempt to justify claims to representing over 80 million Muslims in Nigeria. This paper suggest that Islam and the support from Muslim organisations were significant influences on government policy-makers involved in the process of adopting Sharia law in the northern states. Overall, this paper concludes that Muslim organisations have superior influence, have significantly marginalised non-Muslims and have focused on Sharia law policy, thus enabling an analysis of the relationship between religion and politics in Nigeria.

Keywords

Muslim organisations decision-making policy process northern state government religious influences Islam Muslim

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajayi

(2009) The Effect of Religion on the Political Process in Nigeria: The Case of the Federal Sharia Court of Appeal 1975–1990. IN: iUniverse Bloomington.

Akindele Olusanya (1986) Nigeria’s External Relations: The First 25 years. Ibadan: University Press Ltd.

Aluko

(1981) Essays in Nigerian Foreign Policy. London; Boston: Allen & Unwin.

Andrews

Edwards

(2004) Advocacy organizations in the U.S. political process. Annual Review of Sociology 30(1): 479–506.

Anyia

(2013) Religion and politics in Nigeria: The role of religious actors in government decision making. 1980-2009. PhD. Thesis, London Metropolitan University, UK.

Baumgartner

Leech

(1998) Basic Interest: The Importance of Groups in Politics and in Political Science. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Baumgartner

Jones

(1993) Agendas and Instability in American Politics. University of Chicago Press.

Baumgartner

Berry

Hojnacki

. (2009) Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

BBC News (2006) Crackdown on Nigeria Sharia group. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4700314.stm (accessed 27 June 2009).

10.

Berger

(ed) (1999) The Desecularisation of the World, Resurgent Religion and World Politics. Michigan: William B Eerdmans Publishing.

11.

Blench

Longtau

Hassan

. (2006) The role of traditional rulers in conflict prevention and mediation in Nigeria. DFID Nigeria report, 9 November, pp.81–82.

12.

Constitution of the NSCIA, 1999, article 1:2, Nigeria National Mosque Abuja.

13.

Chukwuma

(1985) Nigerian Politics and the Role of Religion: An Analysis of National Integration. Bonn: Rheinischer Friedrich-Wilhelm University.

14.

Dür

de Bièvre

(2007) Inclusion Without Influence? NGO’s in European Trade Policy, Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 27, Issue 1, pp.79–101.

15.

Enwerem

(1995) A Dangerous Awakening: The Politicisation of Religion in Nigeria. Ibadan: University of Ibadan.

16.

Falola

(1998) Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious Politics and Secular Ideologies. Rochester: University of Rochester Press.

17.

Fowler

Hertzke

Olson

(1999) Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices. 2nd Ed. Boulder: Westview Press.

18.

Fox

(2013) An Introduction to Religion and Politics: Theory and Practice. Oxon: Routledge.

19.

GlobalSecurity.org (n.d.) Assembly of experts. Available at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/experts.htm (accessed 28 November 2014).

20.

Grossman

(2006a) ‘The Organisation of Factions: Interest Mobilisation and the Group Theory of Politics’, University of California, Berkeley, mattgrossmann.tumblr.com/articles. Accessed 10 March 2010.

21.

Grossman

(2006b) Institutionalized pluralism: The prominence of interest organizations in national policymaking. Available at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6vj3q74r, 2006 (accessed 10 September 2010).

22.

Hall

Deardorff

(2006) Lobbying as legislative subsidy. American Political Science Review 100(1): 69–84.

23.

Harnischfeger

(2008) Democratisation and Islamic Law: The Sharia Conflict in Nigeria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

24.

Haynes

(1998) Religion in global politics: Explaining deprivatization. Available at: www.law.emory.edu/ihr/worddocs/haynes2.doc (accessed 10 September 2008).

25.

Haynes

(2007) Introduction to International Relations and Religion. Harlow, England; New York: Pearson Longman.

26.

Haynes

(2008a) Religion and foreign policy making in the USA, India and Iran: Towards a research agenda. Third World Quarterly 29(1): 143–165.

27.

Haynes

(2008b) Religion and a human rights culture in America. The Review of Faith & International Affairs 6(2): 73–82.

28.

Haynes

(2009a) Religion and democratizations: an introduction. Democratization 16(6): 1041–1057.

29.

Haynes

(ed) (2009b) Routledge Handbook on Religion and Politics. UK: Routledge.

30.

Haynes

Hennig

(2011) (eds) Religious Actors in the Public Sphere – Means, Objectives, and Effects. London: Routledge.

31.

Hennig

(2009) Catholic actors and bio-politics in liberal democracies: The case of Poland and Italy. paper presented at ECPR General Conference, September, Potsdam.

32.

Hudson

(2005) The United States in the Middle-East. In: Fawcett

(ed) International Relations of the Middle-East. UK: Oxford University Press, pp.293–305.

33.

Ihonvbere

Shaw

(1998) Illusions of Power: Nigeria in Transition. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

34.

Inamete

(2005) Foreign Policy Decion-making in Nigeria, NJ: Rosemont Publishing,

35.

Juergensmeyer

(2000) Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Columbia and Princeton: University of California Press.

36.

Katzenstein

Byrnes

(2006) Transnational Religion in an expanding Europe, Perspective on Politics, Vol,4, issue 4, pp.679-694

37.

Kenny

(1996) Sharia and Christianity in Nigeria: Islam and a ‘secular’ state. Journal of Religion in Africa 26(4): 338–364.

38.

Korieh

Nwokeji

(eds) (2005) Religion, History, and Politics in Nigeria. Maryland: University Press of America.

39.

Kougentakis

(2007) How the influence of religion makes the foreign policy of the Bush administration revolutionary, and how this has affected our relations with European allies. College of Undergraduate Research, Electronic Journal, University of Pennsylvania, 27 July.

40.

Kukah

(1989) Religion and politics in northern Nigeria since independence. PhD Thesis, University of London, UK.

41.

Kukah

(1993) Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum books.

42.

Kukah

Falola

(1996) Religious Militancy and Self-Assertion: Islam and Politics in Nigeria. USA: Ashgate Publishing Company.

43.

Kurian

Encyclopaedia of the Third World (3^rd edn, Vol. 2). New York: Facts on File

44.

Laitin

(1986) Hegemony and Culture: Politics and Religious Change among the Yoruba. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

45.

Lieberman

(2009) The ‘Israel lobby’ and American politics. Perspectives on Politics 7(2): 235–257.

46.

Lowery

Brasher (2004) Organised Interests and American Government, NewYork: McGraw Hill

47.

Ludwig

Adogame

Berner

. (Eds) (2004) European Traditions in the Study of Religion in Africa. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag, Triannual.

48.

Maloney

Jordan

McLaughlin

(1994) Interest groups and public policy: The insider/outsider model revisited. Journal of Public Policy 14(1): 17–38.

49.

Marshall

(2005) Africa: How and why is faith important and relevant for development? Available at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csrc/PDFs%20and%20Jpgs/marshall-africa.pdf (accessed 10 September 2011).

50.

Marty

(2000) Politics, Religion and the Common Good: Advancing a Distinctly American Conversation about Religion’s Role in our Shared Life. San Francisco: Josey-Bass publishers.

51.

Mathews

(2007) Pentecostal movement, Islam and the contest for public space in northern Nigeria. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 18(2): 175–188.

52.

Mbachirin

(2006) The response of the church in Nigeria to the socio-economic, political and religious problems in Nigeria: A case study of the Christian Association of Nigeria. PhD Thesis, Baylor University Texas.

53.

Minkenberg

(2003) The policy impact of church–state relations: Family policy and abortion in Britain, France and Germany. West European Politics 26(1): 195–235.

54.

Moen

(1994) From revolution to evolution: The changing nature of the Christian right. The Sociology of Religion 55(3): 345–357.

55.

Mustapha

(2003) Ethnic minority groups in Nigeria: Current situation and majority problems. Commission on Human Rights Working Group on Minorities, United Nations 9^th. Session (12–16 May, 2003). Available at: www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/…/E.CN.4.SUB.2.AC.5.2003.WP.10.En? (accessed 17 January 2011).

56.

Nolte

Danjibo

Oladeji

(2009) Religion, Politics and Governance in Nigeria (Religion and Development working paper 39). Birmingham: University of Birmingham. International Development Department. Available at: www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/PDF/Outputs/ReligionDev_RPC/wp39.pdf (accessed 17 January 2011).

57.

Norris

Inglehart

(2004) Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. New York: Cambridge University Press.

58.

Odumosu

Simbine

(2011) Religious organisations, values and rivalry in Nigeria: Exploring the implications for development and politics. Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), RAD Working paper 64.

59.

Ostien

(ed) (2007) Sharia Implementation in Northern Nigeria 1999–2006: A Sourcebook: Vols. I–V. Ibadan: Spectrum Books.

60.

Ojo

(2006) The End-Time Army: Charismatic Movements in Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

61.

Osaghae

(1998) Crippled Giant: Nigeria since Independence. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

62.

Paden

(1986) Ahmadu Bello. Sardauna of Sokoto: Values and Leadership in Nigeria. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

63.

Paden

(2008) Faith and Politics in Nigeria: Nigeria as a Pivotal State in the Muslim World. Washington: USIPP.

64.

Permoser

Rosenberger

Stoeckl

(2011) Religious organisations as political actors in the context of migration: Islam and Orthodoxy in Austria. In: Haynes

Hennig

(eds) Religious Actors in the Public Sphere: Means, Objectives and Effects. London: Routledge, pp77–86

65.

Pew Forum Center (2009) Mapping the Global Muslim Population, A Report on the Size and distribution of the World’s Muslim Population, Nigeria: 2003, Demographic and Health Survey. Washington DC

66.

Philpott

(2007) Explaining the political ambivalence of religion. American Political Science Review 101(3): 505–525.

67.

Project: Open Book Nigeria (1999) Five Nigerian states consider imposing Islamic law. Available at: http://www.domini.org/openbook/nigeria19991019.htm (accessed 28 November 2014).

68.

Raufu

(2004) Traditional rulers in northern Nigeria call for halt to polio vaccination. British Medical Journal 328(7435): 306.

69.

Sheingate

(2001) The Rise of the Agricultural Welfare State: Institutions and Interest Group Power in the United States, France, and Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

70.

Tar

Shettima

(2010) Endangered democracy: The struggle over secularism and its implications for politics and democracy in Nigeria. Discussion paper 49, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. Available at: kms1.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/115684/…/en/49.pdf (accessed 10 October 2010).

71.

Telhami

(2004) Between faith and ethics. In: Dionne

Bethke Elshtain

Drogosz

(eds) Liberty and Power: A Dialogue on Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy in an Unjust World. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, pp 71–84

72.

Truman

(1951) The Governmental Process: Political Interests and Public Opinion. New York: Knopf.

73.

Ugwu

(1986) Nigerian Foreign Policy: Alternative Futures. Lagos: Macmillan.

74.

Usman

(1987) The Manipulation of Religion in Nigeria 1977–1987. Kaduna: Vanguard Publishers.

75.

Victor

(2001a) The challenges of evaluating interest group influence in congress: A study of the 106th House Resources Committee. Presented at the 2001 Midwest Political Science Association Meetings, Chicago, Ill, 18–22 April.

76.

Victor

(2001b) “Convincing Congress: Explaining Interest Group Influence in the 106th Congress.” Paper presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, California (30 August - 02 September) www.docstoc.com/…/Convincing-Congress-Explaining-Interest-Group. Accessed 18 August 2008

77.

Victor

‘The Spatial Model of Interest Group Lobbying’ Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Hilton Chicago and the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL. 02 April 2004. http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p59301_index.html. http://www.apsanet.org .Accessed 14 April 2011

78.

Victor

(2009) The Spatial Model of Interest Group Lobbying: Interest Group Politics (8^th edn), Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh

79.

Wakili

(2009) Islam and the Political Arena in Nigeria: The Ulama and the 2007 Elections. Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, working paper, No.09–004. Available at: www.bcics.northwestern.edu/documents/…/ISITA_09–004_Wakili.pdf (accessed 21 November 2009).

80.

Walker

(1991) Mobilising Interest Groups in America: Patrons, Professions and Social Movements. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

81.

Warner

(2000) Confessions of an Interest Group: The Catholic Church and Political Parties in Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

82.

Weigel

(1991) Religion and peace: An argument complexified. Washington Quarterly 14: 27.

83.

West Africa (1978) The walkout protest over Sharia. West Africa, 17 April, 774.

84.

Williams

PAT

Falola

(1995) The Religious Impact on the Nation State: The Nigerian Predicament. Aldershot, UK; Brookfield, VT, USA: Ashgate Publishing.