An Igbo pressure group, Ndigbo Worldwide Union, has declared that “two legal systems cannot coexist in a serious nation,” specifically referencing the conflict between Sharia law and common law in Nigeria.
This was as the group threw its weight behind United States lawmakers urging Nigeria to expunge Sharia and blasphemy provisions from its Constitution, warning that no modern state can function with two parallel legal codes.
In a statement jointly signed by its President, Benjamin I. Nwankwo, and Secretary, Chief Charles Edemuzo, the group said resistance to the US recommendation exposes “official hypocrisy” and fuels recurring bloodshed linked to Sharia enforcement in parts of the North.
The group specifically applauded Riley Moore, describing the proposal as “long overdue” and a pathway to ending avoidable violence.
“The time for ambiguity is over,” the statement said. “A country cannot claim to operate a common-law system while simultaneously running a full religious criminal code. Two legal systems cannot coexist in a serious nation.”
Ndigbo Worldwide Union argued that Nigeria’s constitutional entrenchment of Sharia—coupled with its membership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—has created a structural contradiction that threatens national cohesion.
The group challenged Northern leaders to make a clear choice: embrace a uniform, egalitarian common-law framework for all citizens, or pursue a separate Islamic political arrangement.
“Pretending otherwise is denial,” it said.
Warning that the “status quo is dead,” the group said the Sharia dispute has pushed the country to a crossroads, with options narrowing to constitutional reform through referendum or an eventual fragmentation driven by unresolved fault lines.
Referencing past abuses, the statement cited the killing of Deborah Samuel and the continued captivity of Leah Sharibu as emblematic of the dangers posed by religious extremism and legal inequality.
“The National Assembly is at its moment of truth,” the group said. “Remove Sharia from the Constitution and preserve peace or ignore the warning signs and preside over a national rupture. There is no middle ground,” the statement warned.
“Nigeria has a choice. The clock is ticking, and history will remember who acted—and who failed,” it added.
