HACKERS have hijacked the official Facebook page of the Kano State Hisbah Board and uploaded inappropriate and explicit content.
The ICIR reviewed the handle of the organization on Saturday, August 31, and confirmed that the hackers bombarded it with various explicit pictures and videos.
The commander general of the Board, Aminu Daurawa, also confirmed the incident to reporters, stating that the situation would be addressed.
“Kano State Hisbah Board is aware that its Facebook page has been hacked and inappropriate things are being shared. On behalf of the Board, I call on people to help solve this problem.”
He assured the public that the Board’s ICT department was working to restore the page and had engaged in discussions with Meta to resolve the issue.
He urged the public to report the hacked page to Meta in English to help prevent further dissemination of inappropriate content.
The head of ICT at the Hisbah Board, Sani Zailani, noted that the account had experienced previous hacks.
He added that Meta had been contacted regarding the latest breach and it pledged to resolve the issue within 48 hours.
The Kano Hisbah was established in 2003 as a religious police to enforce Shariah laws for Muslims in the state.
Shariah law is practised in 16 of the 19 states in Nigeria’s North, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, most Hisbah members were recruited at the local level by traditional leaders and local governments.
They “consist of young men with a low level of formal education, no background in law, and no training in law enforcement or procedures for arrest, investigation, or gathering of evidence.”
The ICIR reported how the religious police violate the freedom of many Nigerians in the name of religion. The Hisbah operation is also characterised by hypocrisy and a preference to persecute the working-class citizens.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.