Sokoto Hisbah Arrests 16 in Hotels’ Raids 
From Bashir Rabe Mani in Sokoto
The Sokoto State Hisbah Board arrested 16 men and women on Sunday evening, in raids on three Hotels in Sokoto metropolis.
The acting Commander Imam Surajo Abubakar led the operation at Pinnacle, Duniya and Ifeoma Hotels, while the Board said the exercise was conducted under “Operation Tsaftace Birnin Shehu”..
Our Correspondent in Sokoto recalls that the Sokoto State Hisbah Board had earlier banned Sallah celebrations held in venues where men and women mix without adherence to Islamic guidelines.
The Board that announced the ban under its initiative “Operation Tsaftace Birnin Shehu”, also prohibited the allocation of rooms to minors in hotels and suspended the practice of offering “short time” services in hotels and guest houses across the state.
According to the statement, the measures were aimed at upholding moral discipline, protecting Islamic values, and cleansing societal conduct during the Sallah festivities.
The Board warned Managers of relaxation centres and hotels to comply or face action.
Meanwhile, some young girls who were hitherto operating as commercial sex workers in various parts of Kwannawa, an outskirt of Sokoto city, had since been repatriated back to their various towns and villages in Zamfara, Kano and Katsina States, among others, by the Hisbah Board.
The Director-General of the Sokoto State Hisbah Board, Alhaji Nura Attajiri, who disclosed this to our Correspondent in Sokoto said, ” these girls were apprehended during the ongoing operation to morally sanitize Sokoto city and its environs.
” We won’t relent or waiver until when we rid the city of all these obnoxious anti social and anti Islamic heinous activities.”
