No, they did not strike oil or discover gold. The state government announced that its legal system would henceforth be Shariah, the social and penal code based upon the Holy Qu�ran. Other publications featuring the restructuring included London�s GEMINI NEWS SERVICE and the Lagos weekly TEMPO.

Boys attend one of the two secondary schools which exist in Gusau, the state capital, and girls attend the other. Hotels and bars have stopped selling alcohol. Some taxis have a picture of a woman in a Muslim headpiece painted on the side, meaning they only transport women passengers, and their heads must be covered. A group of Christian women, on their way to church one Sunday, claimed that they were refused entry into the green-and-yellow taxis because their heads were not covered.

Reportedly, these actions have caused a panic outside the state, causing questions such as, will people be arrested for carrying beer across the state border? Will the authorities cut off thieves� hands? Will adulterers be stoned to death? Obviously, the only people who would object to such laws are drunkards, thieves and adulterers. One of the most frightening results seems to be the fact that "other states in the heavily Muslim north declared their intentions to follow suit."

The TIMES stated that, "So far, President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba Christian whose sweeping investigation of the past has taken aim at and angered many of the Muslim military and political elites of the north, has reacted cautiously. During a visit to the United States, he called Zamfara�s introduction of Shariah unconstitutional; since his return to Nigeria, he has remained quiet."

Some Nigerians, including the deputy governor of Zamfara, have said that Shariah was a reaction to the corrupt, crime-ridden country that Nigeria had become. In recent weeks, he said, prostitutes had been run out of the state, gambling houses padlocked, and highway robberies had declined. Many have said that the state was merely recalling the rightful place that Islam and Shariah occupied in northern Nigeria before the British arrived.