Hisbah, the Islamic police in the Nigeria’s northwestern Kano State, has written a ‘cease and desist’ letter to a radio station, 96.9 Cool FM, warning and barring it from using the term ‘Black Friday’.
According to the Kano State Hisbah Board, which is tasked with the duty of enforcing Sharia law, Friday is regarded as a holy day in Islam, and tagging it as ‘black’ is derogatory and would not be condoned.
Black Friday is an informal name for the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
The term is used worldwide to mean a day for promotional sales where goods are sold at discounted prices.
Hisbah’s Principal Executive Officer II, Abubakar Ali, in the letter titled, ‘Letter of Introduction’, said: “I am directed to write and notify you that the office is in receipt of a complaint for the conduct of ‘Black Friday Sales’ on November 27, 2020.
“Accordingly, we wish to express our concern on the tagging of Friday as ‘Black Friday’ and further inform you that the majority of the inhabitants of Kano State are Muslims that consider Friday as a holy day.
“In view of the foregoing, you are requested to stop calling the day ‘Black Friday’ with immediate effect and note that the Hisbah Corps will be around for surveillance purposes with a view to avoiding occurrence of any immoral activities as well as maintaining peace, harmony and stability in the state.”
Hisbah, which operates in many northern parts of Nigeria, has been accused of several human rights abuses.
Recently, the board said over 12 million bottles of beer were destroyed in 800 operations executed in seven years.
According to the National Broadcasting Commission Act, only NBC has the power to sanction a radio station, especially in matters that relate to broadcasting.
