Help eliminate Boko Haram, make Sharia law unconstitutional, disband Hibah – Obadare tells U.S Congress

A Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, Ebenezer Obadare, has listed three requests before the US Congress: Help eliminate Boko Haram, make Sharia law unconstitutional, and disband Hibah.

He made the requests at a joint congressional briefing by the US House Appropriations and Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

This was as the lawmakers investigated the alleged rising religious persecution and targeted killings of Christians in Nigeria.

Obadare said: “Work with the Nigerian military to neutralise Boko Haram, and press Abuja to reform domestic laws by making Sharia law unconstitutional in the 12 northern states that adopted it since 2000, and disbanding Hisbah groups enforcing Islamic codes on non-Muslim citizens.”

He said the elimination of Boko Haram would bring an end to the instability in Nigeria, adding that if pressured, the Nigerian Government would deliver on all the requests.

He said: “The deadliest and most serious threat confronting the Nigerian state today is jihadist terror, perpetrated by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

“Boko Haram translates to ‘Western education is forbidden.’

“Boko Haram’s barbarous and implacable campaign to overthrow the Nigerian state and establish an Islamic caliphate in its stead is the source of Nigeria’s present discontents.

“As recent events have shown, the Nigerian authorities are not impervious to incentives.

“Since the country’s Country of Particular Concern (CPC) designation and President Trump’s threat of unilateral military action against Boko Haram, President (Bola) Tinubu has made several moves, including ordering air strikes against Boko Haram targets, the recruitment of an additional 30,000 policemen, and, most recently, declaring a national security emergency in the country.”