Christian leaders in Nigeria recently described the planned introduction of Islamic banking as a ploy to ‘Islamize the secular country’ while their Muslims colleagues affirm that the banking system is here to stay. One Muslim group also threatened an all-out war if the bank is not allowed to operate. This is the lingering controversy that has gripped Africa’s most populous country and led to the deaths of hundreds of people caught up in the country's long history of religious conflict.

By Ayo Okulaja, Lagos

The nation’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had in June, rolled out a revised policy on the establishment of Islamic banking and non-interest banking in the nation’s financial system. According to the CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi –an Islamic scholar, the move “will deepen the financial market and enhance the potential of Nigeria to become Africa’s Islamic banking hub.” He argues that “Islamic banking is a model of non-interest banking and profit and loss sharing banking recognised by our laws in Nigeria.”

Subsequently, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), led by Ayo Oritsejafor, fervently condemned the policy which he claims is an attempt by the CBN governor to ‘Islamize the country.’ Also the head of the 50 million Catholics in the country; Cardinal Anthony Okogie, claims the CBN governor was “gradually trying to force us into embracing the sharia system.” He noted that the conditionalities attached to the loans obtainable from the bank are in favor of sharia system. So it is a ploy to Islamize the country.”

This condemnation resulted in a very strong rhetoric from the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, when its president; Ibrahim Datti declared that “untold casualties will result if Christians in Nigeria do not drop their anti-Islamic banking position.”

Nonsense
Mr Datti said at a press conference in Kaduna state that the organisation will mobilise Muslims in the country to go to war with Christians over the ongoing Islamic banking controversy. “We have dealt with a lot of nonsense; we have come to the end and from now its tit for tat... Whether it’s an archbishop or whoever he is who talks nonsense, we’ll get people to answer him in the same language. If he talks as a rascal, we’ll reply to him as a rascal,” he said.

The cleric argued that since the Islamic banking system has been implemented successfully in Britain and other countries of Christian domination, Nigerian Muslims should resist any attempt to frustrate the implementation of the system in their own country.

After a prolonged silence, the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims and Sultan of Sokoto; Sa’ad Abubakar III, decried the controversy saying it was unnecessary. The Sultan in a very subtle but affirmative manner noted that Islamic banking “has come to stay” and warned Nigerians to stop antagonising the Muslim community over the issues.

The Sultan who doubles as President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and the Jama’atul Nasril Islam, however, ruled out the use of violence by Muslims in their agitations.

'Benefits for everbody'
Tunde Bakare, the pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly, who was also the Vice-Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the last presidential elections, supports the banking system, saying it “has benefits for everybody economically.”

He described opposition to the system as baseless saying “Islamic banking cannot Islamize Nigeria just as Christian banking system cannot Christianize the country since the system will operate within the law of the land” Bakare explained.

According to him, if the Bible says “do away with usury, any cleric who says otherwise would be an anti-progressive element in the church,” adding that, “those preachers against Islamic banking are only propagating their personal agenda.”

Nigeria, with a population of over 150 million people is evenly divided into Christians dominated South and Muslims in the North.