Nigeria's most populous northern state, Kano, proclaimed the adoption of Islamic sharia law yesterday but delayed its application until the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, beginning in late November.
Tens of thousands of jubilant Muslims chanted Allahu Akbar (God is greater) as the state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, made the proclamation at a brief ceremony on a prayer ground ringed by paramilitary troops and armoured vehicles.
The delayed application of the law and a public holiday proclaimed by the state government helped avert feared violence between Muslims and Christians in the state capital, Kano.
Non-Muslims, who dominate commercial activity in the state, stayed indoors.
Attempts earlier this year to adopt sharia, which has a strict Koranic penal code, in the more cosmopolitan neighbouring state of Kaduna triggered sectarian clashes in February and May in which hundreds of people died.
Kano has the biggest Muslim population of any of Nigeria's 36 states: 90% of its 8m inhabitants.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, is under pressure from non-Muslims to seek a supreme court ruling on the constitutionality of sharia law in secular Nigeria.
Mr Kwankwaso said there would be no exemptions from sharia, withdrawing an earlier statement that a predominantly non-Muslim area would be exempted.
Kano is the second Nigerian state to proclaim sharia, following the northern state of Zamfara. Other northern states seem certain to be encouraged by the peaceful launch in Kano.
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