Bella Ifasola
KANO – Nigeria’s Kano State Hisbah Board has banned all forms of sports betting in the northwestern state.
The Deputy Commander-General of the board, Dr Mujaheed Aminuddeen announced this while briefing journalists on the the islamic police’s renewed effort to fight immorality.
Aminuddeen said the Hisbah has re-launched what he called “operation flush out immorality”, and that its operatives would soon clampdown on individuals and groups bent on violating social order in the state.
He said in its efforts to restore sanity and discipline in the state, the Hisbah would arrest any landlord who rented out an apartment to unknown person(s) in view of the increasing cases of residential houses being used as lodges and motels in the city.
According to the Hisbah boss, the board issued new rules regarding courtship, as henceforth, no prospective couples would be allowed to sit in tinted vehicles during courtship particularly in the night.
He pointed out that while street begging is prohibited by the law, female beggars who stayed outdoors late into the night would also be arrested.
Mujaheed also announced that the Hisbah is disturbed by the increasing rate of prostitution among young girls and therefore warned that any woman seen in a tricycle after 10pm would also be apprehended.
He warned the public against violating any of the rules, which he said would attract stiff penalty.
He called on parents to be vigilant on their children, especially the females, and stop them from any misconduct capable of breaking any of the rules as stipulated across the state.
The Hisbah Board is a religious police force responsible for the enforcement of Shari’a to only Muslims in Kano state and other parts of the northern Nigeria.
Since 2000, twelve states in northern Nigeria have added criminal law to the jurisdiction of Shari’a (Islamic law) courts. Shari’a has been in force for many years in northern Nigeria, where the majority of the population is Muslim, but until 2000, its scope was limited to personal status and civil law.
The relationship between the Hisbah Corps and civil police has been sometimes acrimonious. The Nigeria Police Force (NPF), to whom the Hisbah must report crimes, frequently refuse to cooperate in enforcement of religious law.
On multiple occasions, NPF officers have arrested Hisbah members for trespassing when the latter have attempted to enter private property to enforce Sharia. And, in 2006, two senior Hisbah officers were detained by federal police and questioned on suspicion they were seeking foreign funding to train militants.
As of 2010 there were approximately 9,000 male and female officers of the Kano State Hisbah Corps.
The Kano State Hisbah court has extended its rule to some Northern States with high population of Muslims in Nigeria. Some regions in States like Kaduna and Kwara now have rules from the court that governs them. The court set up rules that bans women and girls from using Mobile phones and sunglasses amongst other things listed.