By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja
In the year 2004, immediately after graduation from the Nigerian Law School, myself and another lawyer from the now Rivers State University, saw on the list of NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) that we were posted to Sokoto State.
My first thoughts were “why me oh God?”, “what have I done wrong?” “To the best of my abilities,I have tried to lead a religious life throughout my five years at the University as an undergraduate, I didn’t not join any secret cult, I did not indulge in other vices. Now why was it that I was being posted to Sokoto State instead of a nearby State to Rivers State, which is my state of origin?”. These were the initial thoughts that ran through my head.
My parents were not the type that intervened in anything like this, they were not like parents that would pay money to change my posting from Sokoto State to a nearby State. My father as a lawyer was too proud to beg anyone and my mother was a school teacher who did not have connections to any high ranking public officials.
All they did was provide me with the funds to travel to Sokoto State to resume my NYSC service.
I still remember the nine hour journey from Abuja to Sokoto State, with a stop over at TALATA MARFARA at Zamfara State for lunch.
I was initially posted to the Sokoto State Ministry of Justice but later I was re-assigned to the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Sokoto State Office.
It proved to be one of the most memorable episodes in my lifetime.
I was assigned as a Duty Solicitor to the Sharia Courts in Sokoto State and my task was to provide legal representation to the indigent persons of Sokoto State at the Sharia Courts.
Hon. Justice Tambuwal, a judge of the Sokoto State Sharia Courts took me under his wings, after he closed from daily court sessions, he gave me private lectures on the legal authorities under the four schools of Sharia law (Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi’i and Maliki).
As a result of the combination of these private lectures and my daily representation of clients at the Sharia Courts, I became so proficient that I wrote and published my first book entitled: “Access to Justice in Sharia Courts”. The then Director-General of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria also gave me a letter of commendation as the best performing NYSC lawyer.
However, two days before the launch of the said book, I saw a dark side of some persons who are so-called adherents of Sharia law.
The foreword to the said book was authored by the then Sultan of Sokoto in the year 2005.
These so-called adherents of Sharia law are not open to any form of criticisms no matter how constructive. A one line sentence in the said book was all it took for them to completely reject the said book.
They pronounced a “fatwa” on me and as they say the rest is history. I am still thankful to Almighty God Jehovah that I am alive to write this.
I am thankful that they resorted to writing to the NYSC Sokoto State to state their grievances.
However, that book proved very instrumental because years later, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law gave me a job as a Research Fellow on Study of Age of Criminal Responsibility of Children Under Islamic Law of Iran based on their review of the said book.
What I learned from that experience is that some Islamic Law adherents and proponents do not believe in dialogue and debate with others who hold any different opinions before they can reach any conclusion.
So if they must insist on having it their own way, no problem, let them establish Sharia law and courts within their jurisdictions but let the funding come from their own coffers.
Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja is a Senior Research Fellow/Legislative Drafting Lawyer at NILDS, National Assembly of Nigeria.
