The Sharia police in Kano State
By Babrik Ndiameeh
IF all the allegations made by the former Kano State Commissioner, Alhaji Mohammed Yesufu at his final press conference in Kano are true, then Kano State is more of a Republic of Kano State than being part of the Nigerian Federation. For the readers who may have not seen the press conference or heard the news let me reproduce the details here.
The Police Commissioner was quoted as saying that the Kano State Hisbah Sharia police are now superior to the Nigerian police in Kano. That in fact they go to Nigerian police stations and barracks to arrest policemen, women and of course civilians. They close down shops, schools and churches at will. They harass magistrates and area court Judges. When courts of law grant bail, the Hisbah police will arrest the suspect and detain him or her again in their make-shift prisons.
The Kano State government it appears pays more allegiance to Saudi Arabia and Niger Republic than to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. All the above allegations by the Police Commissioner were further confirmed by the interview Dr. Babangida Aliyu, the chief servant of Niger State, granted the Daily Independent of Thursday, May 7, 2009.
Kano State has its police, it has its own prison and its allegiance is more to Saudi Arabia and Niger Republic than to Nigeria. What and how then do we classify such an entity in the Nigerian Federation? Apart from the above charges by the former Kano State Police commissioner, it is on record that more Nigerian citizens have been killed in Kano in religious crises than anywhere else in Nigeria and paralleled only by the civil war. Non- Hausas particularly Southerners and Middle belters are always the prime target. The case that easily comes to my mind was the broad daylight beheading of Gideon Akaluka in Sabon Gari market in 1990 by Islamic fundamentalists.
Since the coming of Governor Ibrahim Shekarau to the Kano political scene, the Kano intransigence against the Nigerian Federation has become pronounced more than ever before.
I can conclude and safely say that the only major link between the Republic of Kano State if I may use the expression and the Nigerian Federation is the fact that, Nigeria still pays the federal allocation to the Republic of Kano. Republic of Kano still has its citizens working in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In fact it has 22 members in the Nigerian House of Representatives. The Nigerian Ministers of Finance and National Planning are all from the Republic of Kano as well as the Chief of Army Staff of the Nigerian Army. All these are senior positions by Nigerian standards while all the states of Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe and Kogi can boast of junior ministers called Ministers of state.
It is disturbing however that despite the fact that Kano State has been trampling on the fundamental human rights of Nigerians by preventing them from enjoying the right to freedom of religion as enshrined in the Constitution, the Federal House of Representatives which is always quick to point accusing fingers at Plateau State has never found it expedient and necessary to even condemn this unlawful and barbaric behaviour by Kano State. Even when Kano State has now confined the Nigeria Police to the dustbin of a powerless force in Kano as confirmed by the state's former Police Commissioner.
By the way, is what Kano State doing not akin to introducing true federalism through the back door? While other states like Abia, Lagos and Anambra have been prevented from having state police, why the preferential treatment for Kano State which is allowed to run the Hisbah police which is now superior to the Nigeria police?
Members of the House of Representatives are you there, what is good for Plateau State is surely good for Kano State. I therefore expect our lawmakers to condemn Kano State for usurping the powers of the Federal police through the Hisbah Sharia police otherwise you guys have a hidden agenda against Plateau State and Nigeria in general.
The House of Representatives should as a matter of national importance move a motion in the House to condemn Kano State.
