Word: obasanjo
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Lawal may yet prevail. She has the support of the national government of Nigeria, which did not back the decision of the country's 12 predominantly Muslim northern states to adopt shari'a in criminal cases two years ago. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo, a born-again Christian, has promised to back Lawal in another appeal. The case may end up in the country's supreme court. In March, Safiya Husseini, the first Nigerian woman sentenced to stoning for adultery, had her sentence dismissed by an Islamic appeals court in another state, in part because she was accused...
...over the past decade, though in practice it is rarely used. In Nigeria, the introduction of shari'a is as much about politics as ideology. Worried that power was slipping to southern Christians, the northern Muslim elite has embraced shari'a. "Part of it is an attempt to embarrass Obasanjo," says Paul Marshall of the Center for Religious Freedom, based in Washington. "They are daring him to move against it and possibly lose Muslim votes...
...ruling last week jolted Obasanjo's government to react. "We are totally opposed to [stoning]," Justice Minister Kanu Agabi told reporters. He has an ally in Muslim human-rights lawyer Aliyu Musa Yauri, who argues that harsh sentences are giving Nigerian Muslims a bad name: "Unless the Muslims of the world stand up and reinterpret these laws, we will find that the other religions will be laughing at us." And crying foul...
...officials said no ransom had been demanded for Erkel, and M.S.F. said it had not been contacted by his yet-unknown abductors. NIGERIA Resign or Else The ruling People's Democratic Party said it will take strong action against its members who voted to impeach Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo. The lower House of Representatives backed a resolution calling on Obasanjo to resign or else face impeachment on charges of misrule. SAUDI ARABIA Bent Out of Shape The axis of evil developed a kink in it when Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal revealed that Iran...
During the period of Zimbabwe's suspension, Mbeki, Obasanjo and other African leaders will keep the pressure on Mugabe to reform. It will not be easy. With the treason charges against Tsvangirai and two other leading MDC officials, a government of national unity is out of the question. Mugabe and Tsvangirai are personally and politically worlds apart. At least 10 people, mostly MDC supporters, have already died in post-election violence and about 50 white farmers have been forced off their lands, their homes ransacked and looted. Among the opposition there is more despair than defiance. Where there might have...