U.S. experts urge Congress to press Nigeria on ending sharia enforcement and hisbah operations
U.S. lawmakers were urged on Tuesday to push the Nigerian government to abolish Sharia law in the 12 northern states where it operates and to dismantle Hisbah religious-police commissions, amid growing concerns that these structures are deepening anti-Christian violence and enabling extremist influence.
Speaking before a joint briefing of the House Appropriations and Foreign Affairs Committees, Dr. Ebenezer Obadare, Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, warned that jihadist groups are exploiting local religious institutions to entrench insecurity.
According to Obadare, groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP, and radicalised Fulani militias routinely “weaponise Sharia-based structures and Hisbah operatives to spread extremist ideology, force conversions, and operate with impunity in several communities.”
He presented lawmakers with a two-part strategy:
- Coordinate with the Nigerian military to decisively neutralise Boko Haram, and
- Pressure President Bola Tinubu to declare Sharia law unconstitutional at the state level and dissolve Hisbah bodies enforcing Islamic codes on citizens regardless of faith.
Obadare noted that the government in Abuja has shown some responsiveness, pointing to recent airstrikes, the recruitment of 30,000 new police officers, and President Tinubu’s national security emergency declaration.
“As recent events have shown, the Nigerian authorities are not impervious to incentives,” he told lawmakers, urging Washington to maintain diplomatic pressure.
The bipartisan session, chaired by Appropriations Vice Chair Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), featured testimony alleging varying degrees of state tolerance or complicity in what some members described as “religious cleansing” across northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt.
Witnesses referenced recent incidents including the mass abduction of pupils and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State, ongoing blasphemy prosecutions, and large-scale attacks on rural communities.
Obadare underscored that jihadist violence remains the core threat to Nigeria’s stability, arguing that no solution is credible without focusing on the total defeat of Boko Haram.
“Any proposal that does not prioritise radically degrading—and ultimately eliminating—Boko Haram as a fighting force is a non-starter,” he said.
