US embassy cable - 04LAGOS1477

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 001477 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINS, PINR, PREL, SOCI, KISL, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA'S SPECIAL BRAND OF ISLAM 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The Ambassador met with the 
Secretary General of the Nigeria Supreme Council 
 
SIPDIS 
for Islamic Affairs Lateef Adegbite in early July 
to discuss the nature of Islam in Nigeria, 
including procedural safeguards inherent in Sharia 
law, the urgent need to restart of the polio 
vaccination campaign in the north, and religious 
reconciliation.  Adegbite's outspoken support for 
Obasanjo may reflect that they are both Yoruba and 
from the same district.  Adegbite distanced the 
practice of Islam in Nigeria from terrorism, 
emphasizing the religious tolerance that 
characterizes Islam in Yorubaland and, he said, 
other parts of the nation.  Adegbite represents 
the moderate, tolerant Yoruba brand of Islam that 
is anathema to the more fundamentalist Islamic 
thought found in northern Nigeria. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) The Ambassador met with the Secretary 
General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic 
Affairs, Dr. Lateef Adegbite on July 1 in Lagos. 
Adegbite opened by saying that Nigeria is making 
progress on the issues of Sharia law and 
Muslim/Christian reconciliation. Adegbite asserted 
that the nature of Islam in Nigeria has nothing to 
do with terrorism.  He expressed concern over a 
perceived "blacklisting" of Nigerian Muslims as 
supporters of terrorism by outsiders.  Adegbite 
emphasized that Nigeria's own brand of Islam is 
non-violent, and that its Muslims have never 
harbored or supported secret patrons of terrorism. 
Adegbite said assistance from various 
organizations outside Africa to build mosques and 
schools has dried up as a result of Nigerian 
Islam's false association with terrorism. 
Adegbite underscored that the practice of Islam in 
Nigeria is different from other parts of the 
Muslim world. 
 
3. (SBU) Adegbite offered his historical 
perspective on Nigeria's religious conflicts over 
the past decade.  He recalled  conflict over 
Sharia law in 1981 in Kaduna and Jos, which 
overflowed into Plateau State.  He stated that 
current religious disturbances are often political 
or ethnic in nature, like those past events. 
 
4. (SBU) Adegbite discussed the current conflict 
in Plateau, which began in 2001.  He suggested 
that the conflict stems from the indigenous 
population's monopoly hold on government jobs that 
excludes more recent immigrants to the state. 
Adegbite described the indigenous communities of 
Plateau as mostly Christian and the immigrants as 
mostly Muslim. He stated that the immigrants, 
feeling disenfranchised, vent their anger by 
attacking rival religious institutions.  While the 
conflict in Plateau appears to be religious, its 
root causes are rivalries between "indigenes" and 
newcomers that are often expressed in ethnic and 
religious terms.  As for the historical conflicts 
between the indigenous farmers and immigrant 
herders, economic competition and employment are 
also important underlying factors. 
 
RELIGIOUS RECONCILIATION 
 
5. (SBU) Adegbite discussed the activities of the 
Nigerian Inter-Religious Council, a Muslim and 
Christian group with a mission of religious 
reconciliation.  Founded five years ago by Muslim 
imams and Christian preachers to intervene 
positively in the Sharia crisis, it is a 
grassroots effort by 25 Christians and 25 Muslims, 
the highest-ranking religious leaders in Nigeria, 
who work to defuse religious issues.  The 
Council's coordinator is Professor Obaje, 
President Obasanjo's Chaplain.  The Sultan of 
Sokoto is also a member of the Council. 
 
6.  (SBU) Adegbite cited the practice of Islam in 
Yorubaland as an example of successful religious 
coexistence both with Christianity and traditional 
Yoruba religion.  He characterized the Yoruba way 
of thinking as open and tolerant, and Yoruba 
adherents of Christianity, Islam, and indigenous 
religions are united by a strong sense of common 
ethnicity. 
 
7.  (SBU) Adegbite contrasted the differences 
between the political roots of Islam in Nigeria 
and the Arab world.  While Nigerian Muslim 
scholars trained in Saudi Arabia tend to be more 
conservative and traditionalist in their practice 
of Islam, they are reluctant to criticize the 
conventional practice of Islam in Nigeria. 
Adegbite said Arab influence is limited because 
traditional leaders-sultans, sheiks, and emirs-- 
fulfill both religious and civil functions in the 
region.  Adegbite asserted that they exercise firm 
control over the North.  He also remarked that 
these leaders have very close relationships with 
the United States and the United Kingdom. 
 
SHARIA LAW 
 
8.  (SBU) Adegbite asserted there is strong 
support for the establishment of Sharia law in 
Nigeria, particularly among the younger 
population.  He said divorce, family, and estate 
issues are those most often brought into Sharia 
courts.  Adegbite is pleased that Muslims in 
Nigeria have the right to choose their own legal 
system under the current democratic dispensation. 
The Ambassador cautioned Adegbite about the human 
rights repercussions of stoning and amputations as 
a form of punishment. Adegbite replied that a 
legal system should not be evaluated solely on the 
basis of its possible forms of punishment.  He 
pointed to provisions for execution by electric 
chair, firing squads, and hanging in the statutes 
of many nations, including the United States. 
Adegbite went on that these punishments do not 
necessarily indicate the moral value of the legal 
system that delivers them.   Adegbite said he had 
offered his legal services as a friend of the 
court in a sharia case involving possible 
adultery.  (Adegbite did not mention the name of 
Amina Lawal in the discussion, but that is to whom 
he was referring.)  In his analysis, Adegbite 
emphasized that since no man had acknowledged the 
paternity of the child in question, the defendant 
should not have been found guilty of adultery. 
Adegbite argued that the case was, therefore, 
flawed in the terms of Sharia law, and, thus, 
should have been dismissed - as it was.  Adegbite 
cited as evidence of Sharia's popularity the 
attendance of two million people in Kano for the 
public inauguration of Sharia law. 
 
POLIO 
 
9.  (SBU) The Ambassador expressed grave concern 
about the progress of the polio vaccination 
campaign in Kano.  Adegbite replied that he had 
visited the Kano governor to discuss the issue. 
Adegbite claimed the governor is not against the 
vaccination campaign in principle, but the 
governor will not accept government-sponsored 
vaccines.  He insists that the polio vaccine be 
from a Muslim supplier.  The governor told 
Adegbite that Kano State authorities had arranged 
to obtain the vaccine from suppliers in Malaysia 
or Indonesia and that vaccinations would resume 
shortly.  Adegbite stated that he had cautioned 
the governor about the negative international 
image resulting from this issue.  Adegbite said he 
would personally follow up with the governor on 
the need for the resumption of polio vaccinations 
in Kano. 
 
PRESIDENT OBASANJO 
 
10.  (SBU) Adegbite gave high marks to Obasanjo 
and his administration.  Adegbite stated that 
Obasanjo, given his military background, is the 
right man for the job of President.  Adegbite said 
Nigeria's political culture has changed, fueled as 
it was by the democratic elections of 1999 and 
2003.  He said the biggest dividend of democracy 
is the air of freedom that Nigerians now enjoy. 
Adegbite affirmed that one of Obasanjo's greatest 
contributions has been his promotion of good 
international relationships between Nigeria and 
the rest of the world.  (Comment. In a recent 
press article, Adegbite was quoted as saying that 
Obasanjo looks "like a successor to Mandela". End 
comment.) 
 
11.  (SBU) Adegbite recalled that he and Obasano 
are both from a district near Abeokuta.  Adegbite 
noted that Abeokuta has disproportionately 
produced Nigeria's contemporary leaders.  He 
mentioned Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola, 
President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, 
Chief Rotimi Williams, perhaps the leading Lagos 
attorney, and the late Moshood Abiola, candidate 
for the presidency.  Adegbite attributed 
Abeokuta's unique distinction to the residual 
influence of freed slaves who had returned to 
Africa and founded strong communities in that 
district.  Adegbite mentioned that his own great- 
grandfather had been a returned slave.  The first 
church in Nigeria was founded in Abeokuta in 1842, 
marking the beginning of organized Christianity in 
Nigeria.  The early influence of the Christian 
missionaries and of their schools gave the town an 
educational lead.  The interaction between the 
returnee communities, the missionaries, and the 
indigenous population was characterized by an 
openness and outward-orientation that today's 
leaders inherited, he concluded. 
 
12. (SBU) COMMENT.  Adegbite is friendly and well 
disposed toward the West.  The official location 
of his law practice is in Abuja, and he is often 
there for his own and NSCIA business.  He 
maintains an office in Lagos, where he works 
closely with American companies doing business in 
Nigeria.  To show Islam in its most positive 
light, he has been active publicly on issues of 
Sharia law, polio, and religious reconciliation. 
He believes that there are enough procedural and 
other safeguards in Sharia law to preclude 
stoning, a view widely held by educated Muslims. 
Adegbite's support for Obasanjo indicates that 
ethnic unity may sometimes trump religious 
difference, especially at the leadership level 
among Yorubas.  Adegbite is a close ally of the 
traditional northern Muslim establishment. It is 
their leadership that risks challenge should Islam 
in Nigeria evolve toward more fundamentalists ways 
of thinking and practice.  Adegbite was unwilling 
to discuss such fissures within the Muslim 
community. END COMMENT. 
 
13.  (U) Ambassador Campbell has cleared this 
message. 
 
BROWNE