Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, has dismissed suggestions by some United States lawmakers that Nigeria should abolish Sharia law.
Featuring in an interview on Arise Television on Thursday monitored by DAILY POST, Bwala insisted that the US has no legal or moral authority to dictate constitutional changes to a sovereign nation.
According to him, any attempt by a foreign country to instruct Nigeria on constitutional matters would amount to an attack on its sovereignty.
When asked whether the US government had the right to push Nigeria to disband Sharia law in northern states or amend its constitution, Bwala said, “They don’t have the locus. In doing that, it will amount to infringing on the territorial integrity and territorial right of a country.”
He maintained that even the recent military threat of President Donald Trump was inconsistent with international norms and the US convention.
The presidential spokesman reiterated that Sharia law, currently operational in 12 northern states, is not a federal policy but a state-level legal framework permitted under Nigeria’s federal structure.
“Even the threat of possible military invasion is not consistent with the US convention, because there are only three conditions upon which another country can invade militarily. Either you are invited by that country, or you are at war with that country, or the United Nations asks you to be in that country.
“Sharia law is not a national law. We also practice the federal system of government, although their own is more advanced,” he stated.