"Oyo and Ogun states had earlier inaugurated their own independent sharia panels in Ibadan and Ijebu-Ode respectively."

Interestingly, the Imir of Ibadan (Oyo State) is a former Nigerian Supreme Court Justice. His borther, a university professer of history and foreign afffairs is the former Minister for External Affairs of Nigeria under the (Gen.) Buhari regime. Gen. Buhari, although a military dictator, was probably the last, best hope for Nigeria to sort itself out and end the terribly corruption that strangles development.

Professor Ibrahim A. Gambari later became Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. and headed the U.N. Commision on Refugees and recently its Under-Secretary-General/Special Adviser on Africa. Professor Gambari, who is a personal friend, wrote an interesting book on how Nigerians view the World - Theory and Reality in Foreign Policy Making: Nigeria After the Second Republic. This book might be helpful for anyone trying to figure out how the U.S. could deal with Nigeria seeing how the Bush Administration is committed to assisting African development.