The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has asked the Federal Government to immediately establish ecclesiastical courts in the country to correspond with the existing Sharia court.
Reverend Adeolu Adeyemo, CAN’s chairman in Kano State, made the request on Thursday at the ongoing public hearings on the review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) taking place in the state.
According to him, if the country cannot remain secular as provided in the 1999 constitution, there is an urgent need to equally establish ecclesiastical courts to balance the existence of Sharia courts in the country.
Similarly, the Bauchi State chapter of CAN also demanded that the ecclesiastical courts must be included in the Nigerian constitution to attend to the yearnings of Nigerian Christians.
The association insisted that the Christians have been marginalised and discriminated against over the provision for Sharia court without Christians having their own.
Sharia law has been in existence in the country since 1999, when then Zamfara State Governor, Ahmad Sani Yerima began the push for the institution of Sharia at the state level of government.
Establishing an ecclesiastical court would enable the Christian faithful to have jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters concerning them.
