•ZMSG YET TO ORDER FOR HIS PROSECUTION

• WE ARE AWAITING THE DECISION OF ZAMFARA GOVERNOR (HISBAH COMMISSION)

°HIS VERDICT IS TO BE KILLED IF WE HAVE TO GO BY THE DICTATE OF ISLAMIC SHARIAH (AG CHAIR, HISBAH COMMISSION)

It has been a story of bad returns to the dark days as operatives of Zamfara State Hisbah Commission arrested one Abdulrashid Halidu from Dankurmi village of Zamfara State over alleged misused of the holy book for ritual purposes.

According to Zamfara State Hisbah Commission, the accused was arrested with many spiritual gadgets, including papers with Arabic inscriptions, which he uses in manipulating things to people for ritual purposes.

He told Newsmen during an interview at the state head office of Hsibah Commission in Gusau that, “I used to open the Arabic inscriptions you are seeing here, used (N500) five hundred naira paper note, recite a verse in the holy Qur’an and begin to see things they way they are ritually”.

He said for the past three years he has been into this ritual act as trained by one traditional Islamic cleric from Sokoto.

“I have done this ritual thing using the Holy Qur’an for many people but mostly common ones; hence I have never done it for any Council Chairman, Governor, or legislature”.

“This act of ritualism is not good and my prayer for anyone who is into it, to fear Allah and get reunited with the holy ones who abide by the commandments of the Holy creator.

“Anyone who has been helpful of those involved in this ritual act visibly or invisibly should quickly repent to his creator before it’s too late,” He added.

As for Abdulrashid he told Newsmen that, “I have repented out of this act and I mean genuine repentance. Even if I am taken to the Governor and other learned Islamic scholars, I will seek for their forgiveness”.

“When asked about the two copies of the Holy Qur’an found in his custody, he replied “in all honestly, I used to seat on top of the holy Qur’an and also step down my hands on the other one whenever I am to embark on this ritual thing”.

He said whenever he wanted to use the Holy Qur’an for the ritual manipulation, he used to feel high discomfort but due to the act of devil he has to ignore the ill-feelings and go ahead to execute his ritual plans.

HOW ABDULRASHID WAS ARRESTED BY OPERATIVES OF ZAMFARA HISBAH COMMISSION

Newsmen interviewed one Malam Abubakar Ahmad Jauri a detention and prosecution officer of Zamfara State Hisbah Commission, and he said, Mr. Abdulrashid Halidu was arrested via intelligent information received from people of Dangulbi and instantly the operatives of the commission acted by taking steps to verifying the substance of the information.

He said they pretended as if they have come for his ritual intervention as they gave him the (N500) five hundred naira note as requested for the execution of his ritual mission.

When he stepped down on the holy Qur’an in their presence, one of the staff of the Hisbah Commission reacted by seeking for the divine intervention and instantly Abdulrashid said the ritual work may fail for some utterances made by the operative of the Commission.

He said Abdulrashid threatened to punish the operative of the Hisbah over his reaction and brought out a bottle with traditional perfume and asked the Hisbah operative to put in one of his fingers and when the operative declined a crisis ensued, a circumstance that led to his arrest.

He said people of Dangulbi town attempted to killed him after his arrest, but due to the intervention of the military that was prevented.

He was later brought to the State headquarters of Hisbah Commission in Gusau noting that after investigation he would be arraigned in court for prosecution, says the Hisbah Commander.

WE ARE AWAITING THE DECISION OF ZAMFARA GOVERNOR ON WHETHER TO PROSECUTE ABDULRASHID OR NOT: (AG. CHAIR HSIBAH ZAMFARA)

The Acting Chairman of Zamfara State Hisbah Commission Rilwanu Muhammad Lawal Jangebe said based on the intelligence report available at the Commission, the accused get connected to the spiritual activities through one errand traditional scholar from Sokoto when they met at an annual Islamic gathering.

He said when serious issues of this nature emerged, the Commission usually consult the Ulama Consultative Council for their religious advice and also get the state government officials informed, especially Special Adviser on Security and Secretary to the State Government.

He added that, the Governor personally sent the State Commissioner for Security and that of Justice where a close door meeting was held and issues were deliberated extensively.

In his opinion, “By way of natural justice system under Shariah law the accused Abdulrashid is supposed to be killed but noted that with the development that trailed the whole thing the only option is to get the state government officials informed and await their decision.

FEAR OF THE OF CHANGE OF MINDSET

This medium reliably gathered that, the accused Abdulrashid has met with the Governor and certain inquiries were personally made by the Governor regarding the briefings he received from the operatives of the Hisbah Commission and state government officials.

But the battle line is whether the state government is ready to allow for his prosecution or not, considering the way in which some vested influences are trying to play out.

One of the operatives of the Commission who spoke to this medium on condition of anonymity said, if not because certain interest is trying to play out, the Commission has no reason to await for the decision of the Governor or any of his agent before the accused is subjected to prosecution.

“You people have listened to his confessional statement and under normal circumstances the Commission should have charged him to court but here we are we would wait and seen the action to be taken by the government”

As at now Abdulrashid is with us, but nobody can tell you what is going to happen next because everybody in the Commission, including the Chairman, is helpless.

Zamfara over the years has recorded several cases of misuse of the Holy Qur’an at the various locations of the state.

Several other accused persons related to this act were arraigned and prosecuted by the previous administration of Yari yet, the action continue even after he leaves.

The present Governor had promised severally that he would not spare anyone found involved in this ati-Islamic act, and now this particular scenario is going to serve as a litmus test for Zamfara people to ascertain the sincerity of the present government.