Plateau Bans Self-Styled ‘HISBA’ Squad, Orders Arrests in Jos North, Governor Caleb Mutfwang has pulled the plug on a group patrolling parts of Jos North under the banner of “HISBA,” branding its operations unlawful and instructing security agencies to move against its members without delay.
The order, contained in a Sunday statement from the governor’s Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr Gyang Bere, came after residents reported being intimidated, harassed and extorted by the outfit, which had also begun enforcing rules of its own making on the community.
Police and other agencies were told to trace and investigate everyone linked to the group and, where the evidence holds up, charge them to court. That net extends beyond the foot soldiers: anyone financing, promoting or shielding the operation faces the same treatment. Mutfwang additionally asked security services to step up intelligence work so residents are shielded from further coercion.
His central argument was one of authority rather than religion. Plateau, he said, runs on “one Constitution, one legal system and one legitimate authority,” and nobody may hand themselves powers the law never granted. “No individual or group has the authority to appoint itself the government of Plateau State,” the statement quoted him as saying, adding that enforcement is the job of duly constituted authorities operating within legal limits. Parallel authorities and self-appointed enforcement bodies, he warned, will not be tolerated.
The governor went out of his way to insist no faith or ethnic group was being singled out. Plateau remains home to people of many religions and backgrounds, all entitled to equal protection, he said, and every resident should be free to live, worship, work and trade without interference from anyone claiming powers they do not have. He thanked the residents who raised the alarm and said his administration treats every credible security report seriously, pledging to protect the state’s record of coexistence and keep the rule of law supreme.
Background: Hisbah exists as a formal Sharia enforcement corps in states such as Kano and Zamfara, backed by state legislation. Plateau has passed no such law, leaving any group operating under the name there without legal standing — a sensitive matter in a religiously mixed state where Jos has seen repeated communal violence.
