Connect with us

Headline

Constitution Amendment: PFN Warns NASS Against Islamisation Of Nigeria

Published

on

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, has warned the National Assembly against what it called “the islamisation of Nigeria through the backdoor.”

The PFN chairman, Enugu State Chapter, Bishop Giddy Madu, who gave this warning in a statement issued to pressmen in Enugu, said the PFN was aware of a move to smuggle in some amendments into the constitution.

The PFN said: “The attention of Nigerians is called to the dangerous proposals in the Senate and House of Representatives to alter sections 262(1) and 277(1) which provide respectively that, ‘The Sharia Court of Appeal shall, in addition to such other jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by an Act of the National Assembly, exercise such appellate and supervisory jurisdiction in civil proceedings involving questions of Islamic personal law.”

Advertisement

It said this was an amendment to the existing provision that: “The Sharia Court of Appeal of a state shall, in addition to such other jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by the law of the state, exercise such appellate and supervisory jurisdiction in civil proceedings involving questions of Islamic personal law which the court is competent to decide in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.”

According to the Christian group, “The above provisions only permit Islamic Personal Law in civil proceedings. This is clearly defined in Sections 262(1) and (2) and 277(1) and (2). All references under these provisions are to ‘Islamic personal law.

“The proposed amendments elevate Islamic law to the status of ‘a general law. Once the word ‘personal’ is removed from Sections 262 and 277 of the Constitution, it opens the door for ‘the wholesale’ importation of Sharia Law, including Sharia Criminal Law into the FCT or any part of the federation.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: Group Urges CAN, PFN To Caution Bishop Oyedepo, Says His Utterances Promote Sexual, Gender-based Violence

“The proposed amendment will give the Sharia Court of Appeal unlimited jurisdiction to entertain all kinds of matters, both civil and criminal, using Islamic Law. It will interfere with the jurisdictions of both the Federal High Court and the State High Courts.”

PFN said the secularity of the Nigerian state as enshrined in the Constitution was sacrosanct and should not be tampered with.

Advertisement

“We vehemently reject the proposed amendment of Sections 266 and 267 of the Constitution, which spelt out the secularity of the nation and freedom of worship. It will lead to a situation where non-Muslims would be tried for Sharia offences.

“Such an amendment will make for an unhealthy breach of the human rights of the people, as the freedom of association of non-Muslims cannot be guaranteed under such circumstances.

“The PFN Enugu State is, therefore, calling on the National Assembly to reject in its entirety the proposed amendment of the sections above to avoid plunging Nigeria into an avoidable crisis.”

Advertisement

(VANGUARD)

Headline

Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Clashes Escalate After Alleged Air Strikes

Published

on

Afghanistan’s Taliban forces launched armed reprisals against Pakistani soldiers along the shared border on Saturday, accusing Islamabad of carrying out air strikes on its soil, senior officials from several provinces said Saturday.

On Thursday, two explosions were heard in the Afghan capital and another in the southeast of the country. The following day, the Taliban-run defence ministry blamed the attacks on Pakistan, accusing its neighbor of violating its sovereignty.

In retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul,” Taliban forces are engaged “in heavy clashes against Pakistani security forces in various areas” along the border, the Afghan military said in a statement.

Advertisement

Islamabad did not confirm that it was behind Thursday’s attacks, but called on Kabul “to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on its soil.”

READ ALSO:Taliban Attacks Kill 23 In Northwestern Pakistan

The TTP, trained in combat in Afghanistan and claiming to share the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban, is accused by Islamabad of having killed hundreds of its soldiers since 2021.

Advertisement

Taliban officials from Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost, and Helmand provinces — all located on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan — confirmed that clashes were ongoing.

“This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border,” a senior official in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, told AFP.

Pakistani forces responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives. Intense fighting continues, but so far, no casualties have been reported,” he continued.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:US Threatens To Sanction Countries That Vote For Shipping Carbon Tax

– Uptick in violence –

In recent months, TTP militants have intensified their campaign of violence against Pakistani security forces in the mountainous areas bordering Afghanistan.

Advertisement

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants who use Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation denied by authorities in Kabul.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

READ ALSO:Afghanistan’s Taliban Release US Citizen

Advertisement

Earlier this year, a UN report said the TTP “receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities”, referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.

“We will not tolerate this any longer,” Asif said. “United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”

Advertisement

Earlier Saturday, the TTP claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several districts in northwest Pakistan that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

Taliban Attacks Kill 23 In Northwestern Pakistan

Published

on

The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several northwestern districts that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

The attacks, which included a suicide bombing on a police training school, were carried out on Friday in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

Militancy has surged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government in Kabul.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Taliban Court Publicly Flogs Woman For Illicit Relationship, Running Away From Home

Eleven paramilitary troops were killed in the border Khyber district, while seven policemen were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gate of a police training school, which was followed by a gun attack.

Five people, including three civilians, were killed in a separate clash in Bajaur district, security officials told AFP on Saturday.

Advertisement

The Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in messages on social media. The group is separate from but closely linked with the Afghan Taliban.

The attacks came hours after Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of “violating Kabul’s sovereign territory”, a day after two explosions were heard in the capital.

READ ALSO:Taliban Order Closure Of Beauty, Hair Salons In Afghanistan

Advertisement

Pakistan did not say if it was behind the blasts in Kabul, but said it had the right to defend itself against surging border militancy.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

Advertisement

Including Friday’s attacks, at least 32 Pakistani troops and three civilians have been killed this week alone in the border regions.

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Headline

US Threatens To Sanction Countries That Vote For Shipping Carbon Tax

Published

on

The United States on Friday threatened to impose sanctions and take other punitive action against any country that votes in favor of a carbon tax on maritime transportation to be implemented through a UN agency.

We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support” the Net Zero Framework, said a joint statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterparts at the departments of energy and transportation.

Members of the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) are set to vote next week on the adoption of the Net Zero Framework (NZF) agreement aimed at reducing global carbon emissions from the shipping sector.

Advertisement

READ ALSO:Woman Wanted Over Mutilation Of Boyfriend’s Genitals In US

Washington, however, described the proposal as imposing “a global carbon tax on the world.”

Since returning to power in January, US President Donald Trump has reversed Washington’s course on climate change, denouncing it as a “scam” and encouraging fossil fuel use by deregulation.

Advertisement

In the statement, Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Trump administration “unequivocally rejects” the NZF proposal.

READ ALSO:US To Execute Man Convicted Of Rape, Murder Of Teen

They threatened a range of punishing actions against countries that vote in favor of the framework, including: visa restrictions; blocking vessels registered in those countries from US ports; imposing commercial penalties; and considering sanctions on officials.

Advertisement

The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations,” the statement said.

Continue Reading

Trending