On patrol with Nigeria's morality police
(Nigeria) Six men in green uniform stand in the back of a pick-up
truck in northern Nigeria's biggest city, on the look-out for prostitutes,
their clients, transvestites, drunks and drug addicts.
Their patrols in Kano also scout for men and women deemed to
be dressed indecently, examples of supposedly "immoral" behaviour and
even Western-style haircuts they consider violations of Islamic law, known as
sharia.
"Once we receive an intelligence report or a tip-off of
an immoral act being committed in a particular place, we mobilise our men to
the area and put an end to it and arrest the perpetrators for either
counselling or prosecution," Adamu Haruna Bayero, who heads the patrol,
told AFP.
In recent weeks, the sharia enforcers, or Hisbah, have
launched sweeping crackdowns and made hundreds of arrests in Kano following a
state-government directive to cleanse the commercial hub of so-called immoral
practices.
Often their raids coincide with religious festivals, when
the boundaries of what is considered decent are pushed to the limit,
particularly among the city's youth.
But others suspect a political motive after rivals of the
governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, accused him of lacklustre support for sharia,
which is in place across northern Nigeria and coexists with secular, state law.
'Balotelli haircuts'
The 9,000-strong moral police force in Kano was formed in
2001 but has since assumed other duties, such as community development work and
alternative dispute resolution.
Since its creation, its supporters say it has become an
essential part of daily life, tackling issues such as high levels of drug
addiction and prostitution, problems that have festered amid unemployment rates
that are the worst in the country.
"Some areas you can go and see people romancing on the
road," said Haruna as he patrolled the city, occasionally making phone
calls to Hisbah intelligence operatives giving him the location of the next
raid.
In Kano's market, many support the Hisbah's actions.
"Our youth wear tight trousers and they pull them down
from their waist," one man said.
"They also have a type of haircut like footballer
(Mario) Balotelli or the (Zinedine) Zidane cut. There are so many of
them."
At night, the Hisbah shines its torches into brothels and
motorised rickshaws -- a key means of transport in the city -- to determine
whether young men and women are using them for canoodling and cavorting.
The group's raids have extended to red-light districts in
the mainly Christian Sabon Gari part of the city, prompting claims of
persecution by the minority community.
Religion is a volatile subject in Nigeria, which is roughly
divided into a mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south, and where
extremist group Boko Haram is waging a deadly insurgency to carve out a
hardline Islamic state.
But the Hisbah insists that its policing targets all faiths.
"Those arrested include Muslims and non-Muslims and we
treat them equally because this is about morality," said Hisbah spokesman
Mohammed Yusuf Yola.
The group's deputy commander general, Nabahani Usman, said
those arrested for a first and second offence are typically counselled. Repeat
offenders are taken to court, leading to a fine or even a jail term.
The group's actions may seem extreme but the Hisbah says the
sanctions provided in law are not enough of a deterrent.
Offenders from a recent raid were given the option of a
two-month jail term or fine ranging from 10,000 naira to 15,000 naira ($63 to
$95). Most paid the fines to escape prison.
'Lesbians in our Internet'
For Usman, a lack of parental control and family values due
to high divorce rates and poverty in the city are to blame for the rising tide
of what he considers immoral behaviour.
Some 400 factories in Kano have shut over the past two
decades, damaging Kano's economy and leaving many families impoverished. With
parents unable to educate their children properly, many turn to crime and
drugs, he said.
Foreign culture is also creeping in from satellite
television and the Internet, he added.
"We have recently discovered that there is a lesbian
group -- Kano lesbian group -- in our Internet, which is a very unfortunate
situation," he said.
Usman accepts that the Hisbah has limited powers and
capacity to police the Internet or the airwaves. As a result, he said, the
group is attempting to enforce compliance with sharia by preaching to preserve
Kano's culture and traditions.
"That is why we in the Hisbah mobilise our men to every
nook and corner, just to preach to them that unless our society is cleansed of
all these kinds of things we will not know where we will find ourselves in the
near future," he said.
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