{"id":930,"date":"2026-02-24T15:46:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/?p=930"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:46:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:46:38","slug":"tinubu-cannot-abolish-sharia-it-is-a-constitutional-matter-abati","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/tinubu-cannot-abolish-sharia-it-is-a-constitutional-matter-abati\/","title":{"rendered":"Tinubu cannot abolish Sharia, it is a constitutional matter \u2014 Abati"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former presidential spokesman and Arise News presenter, Reuben Abati, has said President Bola Tinubu does not have the constitutional authority to abolish Sharia law in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abati made the remarks on Tuesday during a discussion on The Morning Show<\/em>, where he addressed reports that a United States delegation had recommended the scrapping of Sharia law in Nigeria. The reports had triggered claims in some quarters that Washington was attempting to interfere in Nigeria\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n

He dismissed suggestions that the United States was imposing decisions on Nigeria, stressing that no official directive had been issued by the American government.<\/p>\n

Providing context, Abati explained that on October 31, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump instructed Riley Moore and relevant congressional committees on appropriations and foreign relations to examine allegations of Christian persecution in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

According to him, bipartisan congressional visits were subsequently conducted in Nigeria, with meetings held between American delegates and Nigerian officials. He said the investigative team later submitted its findings to President Trump at the White House.<\/p>\n

Abati noted, however, that the U.S. government has not formally adopted the report, nor has it issued any official policy statement based on its recommendations. He added that the Nigerian government has also not released a response.<\/p>\n

On the issue of Sharia, Abati emphasised that it is rooted in Nigeria\u2019s constitutional structure. He referenced historical debates during the drafting of the 1979 Constitution, explaining that Sharia was designed to function primarily as a personal legal system for individuals who choose to submit to it.<\/p>\n

He maintained that any attempt to alter or abolish Sharia would require constitutional procedures, insisting that the President cannot unilaterally take such action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is a constitutional matter, it will have to go through constitutional processes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Former presidential spokesman and Arise News presenter, Reuben Abati, has said President Bola Tinubu does not have the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[80,236],"class_list":["post-930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-president-bola-tinubu","tag-reuben-abati"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1.jpg",750,536,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1.jpg",640,457,false],"large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1.jpg",640,457,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1.jpg",750,536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1.jpg",750,536,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1.jpg",750,536,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Abati-750x536-1-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Publisher"]},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":932,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions\/932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}