SHARIA POLICE BLOCK KANO WOMEN’S PROTEST

Islamic authorities in the northern Nigerian city of Kano have told organisers of a planned protest by divorced women to cancel the event.

The head of the Sharia police, or Hisbah, said the planned protest was an “embarrassment”, and is “un-Islamic”. The organisers have agreed to postpone their protest scheduled for 29 January.

Women’s rights activists say divorced women are often thrown out of their homes, lose custody of their children, and many end up destitute. The Director General of the Hisbah, Saidu Dukawa, said there were also security concerns over the protest.

“We fear what could happen in the streets if there is a large gathering of people, it could get out of control,” he told the BBC’s Hausa Service.

Large gatherings of people can be volatile in Nigeria, which has been rocked by violence between Muslims and Christians over the last 10 years. He also said the idea of street protests was “un-Islamic” and “morally wrong”.

“Never in the history of Islam have women taken to the street to press for their demands,” he said. The Hisbah were reported by local media to have said they feared the demonstration would “ridicule Kano in the eyes of the world”.

Kano is one of 12 northern Muslim-majority states governed by Sharia law. SOURCED FROM BBC

SOMALI WOMAN STONED TO DEATH

A woman in Somalia has been stoned to death after an Islamic Sharia law court found her guilty of adultery. The woman was buried up to her neck and then pelted to death with stones in front of a large crowd in Kismayo.

It was the first such execution in the southern port city since Islamist insurgents captured it from government-allied forces in August. A local Islamist leader said the woman, Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow, had pleaded guilty to committing adultery.

“She was asked several times to review her confession but she stressed that she wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply,” said Sheikh Hayakallah.

A group of men performed the execution in one of the city’s main squares in front of thousands of people, AFP news agency said.

SOURCED  FROM BBC

WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER?

The societal problems are not always the fault of government authorities, take for example; the growing army of child beggars in several of Africa’s major cities. Many of these children aren’t orphans but have been reluctantly drafted into the trade more often than not by lazy, mendacious guardians. Yes the blame is on Parents who tend to ignore the right ways to provide for their children, especially mothers who are not handicapped. It now a common sight to see several mothers seating not far away, watching their toddlers provide the family its daily bread. How shameful and disgusting particularly for an African woman, this I consider as the last abominable act. I hear some ask what about their fathers, that’s a no-issue because many were never there in the first instance

In Nigeria today, the main offenders are the south westerns and northerners, were certain religious and cultural patterns have helped to enforce child-begging. Only last week on the streets of Lagos, as I walked to a function,  a young child, not more than five years, tugged hard at me soliciting for alms. I looked around for her roguish mother and to my consternation she waved at me.  I cast a steely glance in her direction, at the end I refused to part with my hard earned cash.  Lagos is  home for many of these destitute mothers, without a source of livelihood many have continued to  play parent  to the detriment of our society’s social structure, albeit increased campaigns by NGO’s and religious organizations have failed to yield much going by the increasing numbers of destitute mothers and street kids

It’s a dog- eat -dog life on the streets of several African cities where survival is game of wits. Many of these women are exposed to violence, rape, STD’s and AIDS and possible death. The fate of their wards is imagined than experienced; with little or no formal education they are more than willing volunteers to a swelling crime and violence industry

I know a number of people would argue the government has its own fair in the blame game, but isn’t there something fundamentally wrong in system that allows children solicit funds from strangers. So please next time before you pull the notes out of the wallet ask the toddler,’ where is your mother?’

 

Juliet, CONNECTAFRICA