Nigeria, July 30 -- "No Nigerian should be compelled, directly or indirectly, to live under a religious legal system against his or her convictions. Freedom of religion necessarily includes the freedom from religious coercion."

Nigeria is a constitutional democracy founded on the principle of secular governance. In my view, democracy and the institutionalization of Sharia as a national legal framework are fundamentally incompatible. Those who seek to replace Nigeria's constitutional order with a religious legal system should first confront the implications of such a proposal for our national unity.

Religion is, and ought to remain, a personal matter. Once it is introduced into the machinery of government and public administration, it c...