The Beer Smugglers and Kano Hisbah

Without mincing words, intoxicants and wine have proven overtime to be a lucrative business. People who deal in wine make so much funds from it that other enterprises of the world might not entice them.

Unfortunately, the idea of a beer or alcohol business could only successfully flourish in the southern part of this country. The North (Kano most importantly) do not give room for such sinful trade. “Haram.” How do we get here? I know it might not make sense for people to decide the religious rules you have to follow. It’s crazy how you have to wait till you get to Oyo or Akwa ibom before you can taste alcohol freely.

Many years ago, the marriage between the two protectorates that forms the modern Nigeria (southern and northern protectorate) merged two legal systems which don’t go hand in hand, allowing them to coexist side by side. While the southern part was easy to hijack, beyond a legal system, the northern part of this country had Islamic law as a way of life, a religious phenomenon which was introduced into the region through trade from merchants from Mali and other parts of Africa.

With Shariah (Islamic Law) in the picture, it became quite daunting for the British colonial government to impose its rules on the then Northern subject in the Niger area. Hence, indirect rules were brought in and these rules (especially penal) were modified and western sanctions were used to substitute the divine punishment prescribed by the Quran. This development was described by some writers in these words; “Even before the ink with which Lord Lugard used to sign the non-intervention agreement runs dry, he started tampering with the established system he met.”

When the Muslim northerners couldn’t agree with the decree in the criminal code, the colonial government came up with a different code, which had a blend of modern western punishment and at the same time acceptable in northern Nigeria. The move of which birthed the present day penal code.

What are the laws in the penal code? Answering this Question will connect the dots between the colonial period and what’s common in Kano today. Once upon a time in Northern Nigeria, Adultery, Gambling and Consumption of alcohol were not only sins but also crimes. Punishable with either canning or stoning to death.

Fast-forward to when the colonialist came, the penal code substituted the punishment for these crimes into milder ones. Or so they say. These were laws entrenched in the penal code. The ideology of these punishments sounded too grave for the colonial government, in their words; it was repugnant to natural justice, Equity and good conscience, incompatible with statutes and against public policy.

After the colonialist left, the northern government tried bringing these traditions and decrees back into the law. Hence dealing in alcohol thus becomes a crime once again. Most states codified new shariah criminal law and made formations to implement it. Kano state as a case study. Alcohol business thus becomes northern cocaine and if you are caught with it, you become a criminal.

Kano, known as a city that is rich in wealth and resources, will however not budge because a lot of people have tried in the past to smuggle beer into the state but have been confiscated. According to data millions of dollars worth of alcoholic drinks have been destroyed by Kano since 1999.