Between Hisbah, FG and Terrorism

hazga20@yahoo.com 

 

Only recently the Federal government through the Inspector-General police Sunday Ehindero declared the Hisbah corps established by the Kano state government as an illegal organization and banned it from operating in the state. It also proscribed other militia groups, which were not mentioned. Following similar trend the minister of informati on and national orientation Frank Nweke at the behest of president Olusegun Obasanjo issued a statement, describing the Hisbah group as an ‘illegal and unconstitutional ’.

 

The minister similarly made a serious accusation against the Kano state government of seeking assistance from foreign countries to train ‘100 jihadists in the act intelligence and practice of jihad’. The accusation may look simple to the authors but it has far reaching implication on the image of the nation and the future security and stability of the country. Bearing in mind that the accusation not only touch on Kano state as a government and what it represents, but also the intents of corps it established as well as the generality of t he community of Islamic faith in the state and Nigeria. By implication, it means Muslims are harboring terrorist tendencies or are planning terrorism.

 

 This is because accusation of such magnitude on an individual talk less of a state government is capable of sending wrong signals in the society and in the international community even if it were true. Therefore regardless of the position of the accusation, responsible governments should have weighted the implication of what should go to the public and at the right time it should go before making it public. It is more so inconvenient because in the minister’s statement that contained the accusation said the intelligence report was inconclusive. According to him ‘‘the federal government has ordered investigation into the intelligence report’’. If there is no concrete evidence for raising an eyebrow in the first place, why should one confidently do so?

 

It means that there are things beyond just meeting the eyes, especially the hasty nature the statement and what it intend to achieved. Similar statement was issued four years ago by the Nigerian Air force in which it said some Ulamah have planned to attack some installations in the country. The alert only raised an unnecessary alarm and tension in the land, and eventually, the authors of the false alert never prove the honesty of their stand.

 

Ulamah to those who do not know it is an Arabic word. To any Arab language speaker, it means scholars, and to the Muslims in Nigeria, it would rightly mean their scholars, because the accusation is made in the country. By inference, it means the accusations was directed against their religious leaders who are the Ulamah.We may well never know what was intended by raising the false alert, especially coming as it did from a government agency at the high peak of the fight againterrorism around the world.

 

Since there were several bad precedents during past military regimes of raising false alert to achieve narrow political gain this did not come to me as a surprise and I am sure to so many other Nigerians. The only surprise is that the recent ones are coming under a democratic regime.

 

The word jihad like its Ulamah counterpart derives its origin and meaning in Arabic language. It connotes determined struggle to change once attitude for the better. But in the current global war on terror, there is no other meaning that can be imputed by the Federal government than the Kano government is training people for terrorism in the context of the statement issued by the information Minister on the Kano civil corps.

 

The federal government also said that the training was for intelligence and ‘practice of jihad’. To practice Jihad? Then what is Jihad practice? This appears to me the very vexatious question the government is yet to provide evidence or answers. As it appears from the minister’s statement there is no evidence for the blame. For every discerning minds, grave accusations such as these must backed by evidence which based on their veracity can lead to prosecution before competent courts of law.

In its response broadcast over the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), an official of the state government the Director press to the governor Alhaji Sule Yau Sule said the federal government presented to it a letter purportedly written by the Hisbah agency for a foreign embassy in Nigeria in which it sought assistance for the training of its officials. The official said the letter purportedly written and signed by the Hisbah commander was written and dated even before the take-off of the agency and the appointment of the commander of the agency.

That means that the authors of the letter upon which the federal government acted had planned something for along time against the state when it initially muted the idea of establishing the agency or the federal government is interested in achieving something that i s not yet clear. For what purpose is Kano state going to train Jahidists? Is it to fight the Nigerian state and to what end? These are the pertinent questions?  

In the first instance, the statement should not have gone public without scrutinizing what it considers evidence before it. Eventhough past dictators have used false alert to deal with the opposition in this country and elsewhere in Africa, by inferences every discerning and critical mind will not rule out the third-term agenda theory. No country will make such accusations with far-reaching implication to foreign investments, its image and its citizens without incontrovertible evidence.

 

What is obvious to about the fight against terrorism and promotion of democracy in the Middle East is a pointer to the fact that dictators try to show their role in preventing terrorism against the emergence of Islamic hardliner through the ballot box. Those who intend to stay in power beyond their mandate may exploit the scenario they create to generate sympathy among Nigerians and get the support of the United States and Europe to remain in power through dubious means in order to serve as vanguard against terrorism in Africa.   

Another important issue worth discussing the Hisbah agency itself. This

I understand is a civil defense corps set –up by the state government under the laws of the land and approved by the state House of Assembly. It is like the National Civil Defense Corps of the Federal government under the Ministry of internal affairs established in the late 1960s. Both perform civil responsibilities and are not supposed to carry arms neither arrest or detain any citizens.

To that extend they should not be law enforcement agencies. Hisbah was established a year ago. Since then it has been performing creditably in support of the police and other civil authorities of both state and federal to the acclamation of the public. Public support to the organization has been growing by the day.

This however may be far-fetched because of their human and civil approach to Nigerians in the discharge of their statutory responsibility. Instead of complaints as in the case of the lawless Bakassi boys of the Anambra state government and the outlawed Ondua People Congress (OPC), operating in the Southwestern Nigeria, the Hisbah received series of commendations from within and outside the state. Compared to the OPC and Bakassi boys, who committed so many atrocities with impunity, Hisbah should serve as a model for other states and as example where states can support police and other security agencies in promoting peace and security.

To accuse a state like Kano without evidence can be interpreted to be a clear mischief particularly that it s Hisbah corps has operated for over a year now and in a transparent and open manner along side with legion of private security outfits operating with illegal license from the Nigeria police force. It is not a hidden issue that private security outfit perform certain police functions including law enforcement and patrol in the country.

 Outfits such as these should consider as serious threat to the nation security, peace and stability, because there is no law legalizing their existence and mode of operation. And since, oil companies patronize their services, they well be recruiting ground for Niger Delta militia groups. As such outfits could offer military training under the guise of private security organization. In this wise therefore these are the ones to be banned than corps such as Hisbah.

The constitutional provision providing the existence and function of the Nigeria police make imperative to outlaw these outfits if the nation is to uphold the constitution. If civil corps such as Hisbah is to be outlawed, then it follows that the 18,000 strong Nigeria Civil Defense Corps should serve as an example for others to follow. After all the organizations come into being because the continuous loss in confidence in the police as well as their corrupt disposition, that earned their boss a sack and a place in prison.

The earlier the federal authorities abandon using undemocratic courses to attend myopic interests of certain individuals, the better for the survival of democracy, peace, the entrenchment of rule of law and economic progress under the current economic reforms being implemented.                                  

 

 

Ayodele Taofik Ogundele works with L-                                                     Lenols Press limited and resides at Tudun Murtala, Kano.