Nigeria: Islamic vigilantes attack hotels in northern city

The attacks by the Hisba, as the vigilantes are called, occurred between Friday and Monday. They prompted state governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to call a security meeting on Tuesday to deal with the situation.

"Since last Friday when the deputy governor, Abdullahi Ganduge, led law enforcement agents to destroy alcoholic drinks in some hotels, members of the Hisba have taken the laws in their hands, attacking and burning hotels suspected of selling liquour," Festus Okoye, a Kano resident, told IRIN on Wednesday.

He said he knew of at least eight such establishments that had been attacked in mainly Christian districts of the city.

Kano is one of about 10 states in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north that have adopted Sharia law or begun steps to impose it since late 1999. Its government has been under pressure from Muslim clerics, who accuse it of laxity and want it to enforce the law, which bans the sale and consumption of alcohol.

To pre-empt threats by the Sharia vigilantes to take the law into their hands, Deputy Governor Ganduge had led policemen on Friday to four major hotels, where they destroyed stocks of alcoholic drinks. However, his act appeared to inspire the Hisba, who later attacked other hotels and restaurants.

"I am not in support of this destructive trend. The Council of Ulamas (clerics) and other religious groups should allow the law to take its course," Kwankwaso told reporters after Tuesday's security meeting. "We will deal with anybody fomenting these barbaric acts."

The adoption of Sharia has remained a contentious issue in multi-religious Nigeria. The move has been opposed by non-Muslims, the dominant population in the country's south. Thousands of people were killed in the northern state of Kaduna last year in rioting which broke out over plans by the government to introduce Sharia.