A top official in Nigeria condemned calls from prominent American and other human rights figures for the country to abolish the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law, on citizens regardless of religion, dismissively remarking, “We are not Venezuela.”
The official, Presidential Adviser on Policy Communication Daniel Bwala, appeared to be arguing that calls to ban states from imposing sharia and creating rogue morality police units was akin to colonialism and that, unlike Venezuela, Nigeria was no longer a colony.
“We differ with them on this idea of amending our constitution. Nigeria is a sovereign state, has never been colonized by America anywhere and we are not Venezuela,” he stated, according to the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard.
Nigeria’s population is nearly evenly split between Christians and Muslims — some estimates suggest a little over half are Muslim, while about 45 percent identify as some form of Christian. Despite this divide, 12 Nigerian states have adopted sharia, or the Islamic law, imposing it on its population through the hisbah religious police, which is separate from the more formal law enforcement operations in those states. Christians, particularly in the Middle Belt states increasingly plagued with jihadist violence, have long complained that being subject to sharia is not compatible with existing in a free and democratic country.
“Nigeria is supposed to be a democratic country and also a secular state, but the Muslim leaders who have led Nigeria… there has been a push by some Muslim elements in the country to Islamize the populace,” Father Remigius Ihyula told Breitbart News in 2023. “Imagine that, in a country where we are supposed to have a secular constitution, some parts of our constitution is Sharia. Just imagine that in the United States… there should be elements of the Sharia like someone can marry four wives or somebody’s hand should be cut if they steal something.”
Speaking at a Congressional hearing in November, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jacob McGee cited the imposition of sharia as a significant obstacle to religious freedom in the country.
“Nigerian officials continue to prosecute individuals for alleged blasphemy, which stands in clear violation of Nigeria’s obligation to safeguard free speech,” he explained. “Under the sharia penal codes enforced in 12 of its states, Nigeria is one of only eight countries in the world that allows for penalties up to execution for blasphemy, along with Iran and Pakistan.”
“When authorities detain individuals accused of blasphemy, the judicial process often takes years while they remain in prison, sometimes on death row. Mobs often take the law into their own hands with impunity,” he continued.
Bwala, the adviser to Muslim President Bola Tinubu, nonetheless insisted in his remarks on Thursday that sharia is a federalism issue and the federal government should not tell states not to prosecute “blasphemy” or other such crimes.
“Sharia law is not a national law. We also practice federal system of government, although their own is more advanced,” he claimed.
Bwala also complained about the alleged threat of “possible military invasion” of Nigeria. President Donald Trump, in declaring Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom in October, suggested that he may send the military “guns-a-blazing” into Nigeria to defend Christians.
He said, “Even the threat of possible military invasion is not consistent with the U.S. convention, because there are only three conditions upon which another country can invade militarily,” he claimed. “Either you invited by that country, or you are at war with that country, or the United Nations asks you to be in that country.”
Vanguard, which reported Bwala’s comments, did not offer any clarification as to what he meant by mentioning Venezuela. Venezuela is currently making international headlines due to the Trump administration’s actions to stop drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea, much of which is operated by the Cartel of the Suns, the cocaine-trafficking arm of the Venezuelan military. Venezuela is, like Nigeria, a violence-plagued, impoverished crude oil giant, and hosts jihadist organizations such as Hezbollah, but it is a majority Christian nation in which no jihadist genocidal activity has been documented.
Venezuela declared independence from Spain in 1811, over half a century before the British colonized Nigeria in 1884, and has never been colonized by the United States. Contrary to the suggestion that the founding fathers of Venezuela were friendly to the idea of the United States colonizing them, the country’s top liberation figure, Simón Bolívar, was actively hostile to the United States. Bolívar wrote, “The United States appear to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of freedom,” a saying regularly exploited by the socialist narco-terrorists currently controlling the country.
The British colonization of Nigeria resulted in the abolition of slavery in that country and the development of a transportation system to better exploit its natural resources. The British also encouraged the spread of Christianity in the country and, as a result, much of the population belongs to the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church in Nigeria broke with Canterbury in October over the appointment of “pro-gay” female Bishop Sarah Mullaly as Archbishop of Canterbury.
Nigeria was liberated in 1960 after years of peaceful anti-British resistance, contrary to Venezuela, which was liberated a over century earlier through war with the Spanish. After declaring independence from Spain in 1811, Venezuela joined the now-defunct Republic of Gran Columbia and became a sovereign state in 1830.
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