The Kano State Hisbah board, the Sharia Police, is currently under fire over its plan to invite the parents of Shatu Garko, winner of Miss Nigeria 2021.
Garko, an 18-year-old Hijab wearing model from Kano, emerged winner of the contest, which held in Lagos on Friday night.
But Commandant-General of the Hisbah board, Harun Ibn Sina, had insisted that participation in beauty pageants was against Islamic teachings.
Stating that the parents of Garko would soon be invited over for what their child did, Ibn Sina, citing verses and examples from holy books, said: “We investigated and confirmed that the girl called Shatu Garko is from Kano State and an Indigene of Garko Local Government area of Kano State.
“Islamically, it is totally forbidden because it goes against the teachings and practices of Islam. Immorality is practiced and encouraging the female gender to be immoral.
“A female Muslim is not allowed to open any part of her body except her face and palms of her hands except for their husbands, children or siblings. It has come to our notice that our children are now coming out to contest for this immoral act which is not acceptable.”
Reacting to the issue, the Contact and Mobilization Officer, Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Zuwaira Umar, said the action is an infringement of her rights.
“She has the right constitutionally and Nigeria confers on every citizen the freedom of association and expression. There’s no law in Kano banning that and talking about immorality, what she did is no match to what some daughter’s of influential people in the state have done in terms of dressing.
“A daughter of highly influential person in Kano has dressed more terrible than Shatu Garko who was even decent compared to the people she went into the contest with. Secondly, she did not do it in Kano, she doesn’t even reside here. She did it outside Kano.”
She added that the criteria for selecting Miss Nigeria was not beauty alone but other aspects such as intellectualism, contribution to development, among others.
Shehu Sani, a former Senator, also commented on the issue, which is generating attention on Social Media.
In a tweet, he wrote, “Ms Shatu Garko contested Miss Nigeria pageant decently dressed. She has not cross the line of our cultural standards here in the North. There are the daughters of the rich and the powerful that have done that with impunity. I appeal to the Hisbah religious authorities to let her be.”
On her part, Aisha Yesufu, an activist, said, “So my daughter will participate in beauty pageant and Hisbah will invite me?! Kai! I laugh in unmade D! They will know that day that all of us have bed in psychiatric hospital! Nonsense and rubbish! Nobody has monopoly of violence and foolishness!”
Daily Trust columnist, Gimba Kakanda, also weighed in on the matter on Twitter, saying the invitation was unnecessary.
He wrote, “I just feel Hisbah enjoy having Muslims, especially northerners, subjected to ridicule. Inviting Shatu Garko’s parents is absolutely unnecessary, no matter their intention. There are critical issues affecting the Muslim society, and none is a teenager partaking in Miss Nigeria.”