Beer sellers fear Sharia wrath
2004-03-08 09:16
Kano, Nigeria - Business was good in the taverns of Kano as the city's football fanatics gathered to watch the English FA Cup quarter-finals this weekend.
However, for the beer sellers stacking crate after crate of empties back onto their trucks, they seemed unaware that this might be one of their last loads.
The government of northern Nigeria's biggest city insists it is finally getting ready to get serious about the application of Islamic Sharia law, just over three years after millions of cheering Muslims celebrated its return.
"Last week someone caught drinking was caned on the back with 100 strokes, as Sharia requires. The police prosecuted the case," boasted Sule Ya'u Sule, Kano State's spokesperson, welcoming a small victory for Governor Ibrahim Shekerau's policy of gradually involving Sharia in all aspects of his rule.
Unruly
Last week's case should be a minor incident in an unruly yet conservative city, but in reality it marks a significant shift. Sule said the unlucky drunk's prosecution was overseen by Nigeria's federal police force, acting in co-operation with Kano State's Islamist vigilante force, the Hisba.
Once a gang of steet toughs loosely organised by the mosques to enforce Islamic morals, the Hisba has been brought under Shekarau's wing as a paid arm of law enforcement, reporting un-Islamic activity to the police for punishment. Kano's Christian minority could be the next to suffer their wrath.
For although Sharia is not meant to apply to non-Muslims, Sule says that the state is determined to enforce the law banning the sale of alcohol, whether it be in the crowded beer parlours of Kano's Christian ghetto, Sabon Gari, or in the high-class hotels serving expatriate traders and the political elite.
"Two weeks ago the Sharia Commission called all the hoteliers to State House. They were given a period of time to dispose of these things. I think it was three months," he smiled.
Maureen, a strapping young Igbo woman, was born in Sabon Gari. Her wholesale business was started by her mother, and she knows nothing else. There have been warnings of a crackdown before, and she is unmoved by the prospect of Kano's renewed Islamic zeal. "There's never any problems here," she grinned.
Across the road, an Igbo businessman was unimpressed at the news that the police have been brought on board for the clean-up operation. "We pay the police to escort our beer wagons," he shrugged, totting up the receipts from another weekend's roaring trade.
- AFP