Opeyemi Olamilekan
Islamic police Hisbah Board in northern Nigeria has destroyed over 170 bottles of alcoholic beverages valued at ₦450,000 in Gashua, Bade Local Government Area of the northeastern state of Yobe.
The confiscation occurred during a patrol led by Hisbah officials at a local hotel in Gashua, with a vendor associated with the sales also arrested and subsequently jailed for contravening the state’s prohibition on alcohol.
Ibrahim Babagana Yurema, Chairman of Bade Local Government Area, who led the operation, disclosed that the Hisbah resolve to curb the sale and consumption of alcohol.
According to Yurema, the initiative seeks to combat the rising trend of alcohol use among youth, which he described as harmful to mental clarity and contrary to Islamic teachings.
“The council is resolute in combating this immoral act to safeguard our community from its harmful consequences,” Yurema said.
Meanwhile, the Zonal Commandant of the Hisbah Board for Yobe North, Malam Isah Ibrahim, revealed that the confiscation stemmed from a ruling by a Sharia Court in the state.
Ibrahim explained that the court found the alcohol seller guilty, sentenced him to prison, and directed the Hisbah Board to destroy the seized whisky.
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.