By Muhammad Ibrahim, Sokoto
A Bill for a law to establish Hisbah Board in Sokoto State To Promote Public Welfare, Assist Government in Preventing Harms, Including Crime And Related Matters has indicated that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar shall upon commencement of the law be the grand patron of the body as written by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the governor, Muhammad Bello.
According to Sokoto state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Suleiman Usman (SAN), while briefing journalists on the outcome of the state executive council meeting on Wednesday, “the Bill has made the provision of creating the Office of a Grand Patron for Hisbah.”
As such, “the Sultan (of Sokoto) has been given that responsibility to act as the focus for identity and unity of Hisbah, preside over annual general meeting of Hisbah Corps and Board; and advise Hisbah generally in the discharge of their duties, as well as recognize success and excellence; and ideals of voluntary service.”
Primarily, “apart from the board that was established, the Bill has made three innovations. One, leveraging on the powers of the Attorney-General, the Bill has permitted, where investigation is warranted, for the Attorney-General to appoint a Special Counsel, to investigate allegation of the commission of a crime.
“The state government in furtherance of the need to actualize the Islamic Law, the duties o of maintaining decorum and peaceful coexistence in the state; and, also in order to assist the government as well as the security agencies in the preservation of peace in the state, conscious of the need as Muslims to fully actualize the injunctions of Allah (SWT) in the Holy Qur’an of al-amru bil ma’aruf, wan nahyu anil munkar (ie- the commanding of good and eradication of evil in the society).
Explaining that the state executive council has approved the Bill for transmission to the state assembly, Usman said: it is “a very good model, not only for the state, but for other states in Nigeria and even globally. It will be embraced as one of the concrete laws that would entrench the practice of Hisbah globally.
“The activities of Hisbah has been strengthened to ensure that only qualified and highly trained persons discharge the duties. Accordingly, the law has mandated the board to come up with operational guidelines and code of conduct as well as leveraging in the principle of incidence reporting to document any case of arrest,” Usman added.
He added that: “in a nutshell, once the Bill is passed by the State House of Assembly and assented to by His Excellency, it will really bridge the gap that existed presently in terms of maintenance of peace, enforcement of law, particularly the Sharia Penal Code Law and the Sharia Court Law; and also assist the security agencies and ensuring that there is law and order.
