Twelve Muslim-majority northern states have incorporated Sharia courts into their legal systems with the power and jurisdiction of these courts waxing and waning over the past two decades. In some of these states, sharia courts are optional arbitration courts for personal status issues where as in others, sharia has effectively replaced the formerly secular state level legal system in both civil and criminal contexts. This has brought controversy due its discriminatory practices towards religious and sexual minorities. Northern Nigeria has also been the site of ongoing Islamist insurgency which has led to the death and displacement of tens of thousands of people.