…Says it’s a threat to rule of law, national security

The Global Centre for Conscious Living Against Corruption (GCCLAC), a coalition of Civil Rights Organisations, on Wednesday demanded the immediate and decisive disbandment of the “Hisbah Independent Fisabilillahi”- an emerging private security outfit in Kano State.

The convener of the group, Dr Gabriel Nwambu, who made the call during a press briefing in Abuja, said the emergence of the 12,000-man-strong strong in Kano State, allegedly spearheaded by associates of former Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, is not merely a political spat but a clear and present danger to Nigeria’s fragile security architecture and constitutional order.

Nwambu said that the establishment of a parallel, unregulated enforcement group at a time when the nation is grappling with widespread banditry, insurgency, and the severe implications of being designated a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the US on grounds of religious freedom is an act that directly challenges the State’s exclusive monopoly on the use of force.

He said that allowing this group to operate would set a dangerous precedent that empowers political actors to create private armies or quasi-security militia groups, thereby fundamentally undermining the democratic structure and the rule of law.

Nwambu called on the Kano State Government to issue a definitive public statement declaring the “Hisbah Independent Fisabilillahi” illegal, unlawful, and an enemy of the state’s security.

He also urged the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services(DSS), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) must launch an urgent, comprehensive, and transparent investigation into the group’s activities to unearth its structure, sponsors, source of funding, as well as any possible links to arms proliferation or international terror financing networks.

“The mobilisation and sustenance of a 12,000-personnel group requires significant and sustained financial resources. This is a grave public interest matter, raising questions of money laundering and diversion of public funds, now being used to finance private political ambition.

The financing could also be linked to criminal enterprises, such as kidnapping for ransom, or other illicit activities that are fueling the nation’s insecurity.

“In an era of intensified global efforts against Terror Financing (TF), security agencies must investigate potential links between the significant funds supporting this large, unregulated group and larger transnational terror networks,” the group said.

The government, Nwambu said, must develop urgent socioeconomic intervention programmes to address the poverty and unemployment being exploited to recruit vulnerable youth into such dangerous formations.