 |
| The "Sharia Police" or "Hisbah" |
By
Ebuka Nwankwo
When it comes to ensuring
fairness, it is dangerous to stick your head in the sand. With the recent
pronouncement on Cross River’s Green Police, we might be playing the ostrich.
The
Federal Government has declared the Green Police – an outfit inaugurated by the
Cross River State government to protect the environment and create jobs – as
illegal. But nothing has been heard, recently, on the legality or illegality of
the Sharia Police, Hisbah, which holds sway in the north.
While
declaring the Green Police illegal, the state commissioner of police, Mr. Jimoh
Obi-Ozeh, quoted Section 214 of the constitution which says that there should
be no other police force in the country except the Nigerian Police (NP). This
is absolutely correct!
But
this section of the constitution applies more to the Sharia Police, and less to
the Green Police. Governor Ayade’s initiative – which is currently paying
unemployed youths over 25,000 naira monthly — ought not to be called a police,
in the first place. (It can continue to do its job, in a modified way, without
having the police appendage to its name.)
The
Cross River State government inaugurated the Green Police to complement the
efforts of the Forestry Commission and the state government in implementing the
state’s forest laws. The state government believes this initiative would create
jobs for its teeming population of youths. It has actually done this.
The
governor’s background in the environment might have spurred him into
inaugurating this so-called ‘police force’. There is no doubt that the illegal
felling of trees reduce government’s revenue and impacts negatively on the
environment. But the state commissioner of police doesn’t agree that these
justify the existence of the Green Police. Probably, he thinks the underfunded
NPF can effectively do this job without any assistance.
But
the real alternative police is sprawling across the north.
While
not advocating that people should engage in activities that might be offensive
to people of other faiths, the process of checking these irritations needs to
be interrogated.
A
few days ago, in Jigawa, the Sharia Police arrested 34 persons and confiscated
hundreds of bottles of beer. The state commandant of Sharia Police, Mallam
Sa’idu Aliyu, told newsmen that the Hisbah will continue to fight immorality.
Also,
sometime in April, in Kano, the Sharia Police arrested some women for engaging
in immoral acts. In fact, they charge and prosecute people for engaging in
Sharia related offences.
And
such offences could include the consumption of alcohol in public, smoking of
marijuana, romancing a person who might not be your legal spouse in public.
But
no one in government, in recent times, has talked about the legality or
illegality of these acts, even after Mr. Aliyu gave a ‘press conference’.
It
is not clear how much job the Sharia Police has created or how much it pays its
members. But the possible economic transformation of Governor Ben Ayade’s
scheme is not in doubt. Yet, the state commissioner of police wants it to be
shut down.
The
state commissioner of police ought to call for an amendment of the state law
guiding the Green Police, instead of using the constitution as a guise in
asking for its crackdown. This amendment should include curbing the potential
excesses of the marshals, who make up the Green Police.
Initiatives
such as the Green Police could earn Nigeria laurels on the environment, if it
is properly managed. (The president’s recent visit to Morocco shows he is
passionate about the environment.)
But there remains one question on some people’s lips: Does the constitution apply to the Hisbah? If it doesn’t, why should it apply to the Green Police?
Source: TheCable
No comments:
Post a Comment