The Group of Ulamau in Zamfara State has accused Governor Dauda Lawal of undermining the state’s Shari’a system by hosting former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a known critic of Islamic law.
In a statement on Wednesday, the group’s spokesperson, Shaikh Hadi Suleiman Maru, condemned the governor for rolling out the red carpet for Obasanjo at the Government House in Gusau.
He said the visit, marked by music and public dancing, was described as a stark departure from Zamfara’s Shari’a heritage.
The Ulamau argued that Obasanjo’s presence symbolised the erosion of the Islamic legal system, which Zamfara pioneered in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic under former Governor Ahmed Sani Yariman Bakura in 1999. The move had inspired other northern states to adopt Shari’a, despite opposition from Obasanjo’s administration.
“Governor Dauda has betrayed the religious values that once defined Zamfara,” the statement read, accusing him of aligning with Obasanjo, who famously predicted Shari’a would “fizzle out” during his presidency.
The group described the celebratory atmosphere during Obasanjo’s visit as a painful irony for a state once seen as the flagbearer of Islamic law. They claimed the governor’s actions reflect a shift towards “Western-style governance” and political appeasement.
Obasanjo’s administration had faced pressure from international organisations and secular groups to curb Shari’a’s influence, citing human rights concerns.
However, Zamfara’s Muslim community staunchly defended the system as a divine path of justice and moral order.
The Ulamau lamented that Shari’a’s fading relevance in Zamfara was not due to external forces but the indifference of local leadership. “What generations fought to establish now risks being forgotten,” Shaikh Maru said.
The group’s statement concluded with a sombre reflection: “Governor Dauda Lawal Dare has written his name as the one who ushered in the quiet dismantling of a sacred trust.”