Governor Yusuf Bans Rogue ‘Hisbah’ Militia, Orders Probe into Youth Recruitment Ring

By Emmanuel Kwada 

In a swift move to safeguard public order and preserve the state’s legal framework, the Kano State Government has outlawed the “Independent Hisbah Fisabilillahi” group, branding it an unauthorized vigilante outfit masquerading as religious enforcers.

The executive order, signed by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on December 8, 2025, empowers security forces to dismantle its operations and investigate its shadowy backers amid fears of escalating unrest.

The ban targets the group’s brazen recruitment and training of youths, activities deemed a direct assault on the Kano State Hisbah Board’s monopoly over moral policing.

“This parallel structure is a recipe for chaos,” declared Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, the Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, during a tense briefing with journalists on Friday. “The Hisbah Board stands as the sole legitimate guardian of these duties—anything else erodes our peace and invites anarchy.”

Unveiling the order’s ironclad terms, Waiya revealed how intelligence uncovered the group’s illicit mobilization, flouting the Hisbah Board Law and potentially fueling sectarian tensions in Nigeria’s volatile north.

The directive categorically voids all its endeavors, prohibiting any “recruitment, assembly, mobilization, training, or deployment” of personnel for rival enforcement roles. Impersonating official Hisbah emblems or uniforms?

That’s now a fast track to severe penalties, including jail time for unlawful assembly and forging authority.

Governor Yusuf didn’t mince words in his crackdown: Security heavyweights—the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services (DSS), and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)—have been unleashed to raid recruitment drives, shutter training camps, and grill the ringleaders.

“Take every lawful step to avert lawlessness,” the order commands, underscoring the administration’s zero-tolerance stance on threats to Kano’s fragile harmony.

For the rank-and-file already ensnared, the message is clear and urgent: Walk away now. The government urged recruits to report to the nearest police station, Hisbah outpost, or local council without fear of reprisal, framing disengagement as a patriotic duty.

“Affiliation with this outlawed entity is a crime—support it at your peril,” Waiya warned, as violators face a gauntlet of charges from conspiracy to establishing phantom security outfits.

This purge arrives at a precarious juncture for Kano, where overlapping vigilante groups have long simmered beneath the surface, often clashing with state-sanctioned forces. The Hisbah Board, revered yet criticized for its Sharia-infused patrols, has weathered copycats before, but officials say “Fisabilillahi” crossed a red line by scaling up without oversight.

The order kicks in immediately and will soon hit the official gazette, cementing its permanence. As Kano’s streets buzz with whispers of defiance, Governor Yusuf’s gambit signals a broader resolve: In a state where faith and fervor collide, rogue enforcers will find no sanctuary.