Tambuwal signs law prohibiting preaching, public gathering during Ramadan

Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on Friday, signed a law prohibiting preaching and public gathering during the Ramadan period.

He said the action was taken following the state government’s adoption of the position of the Sultan of Sokoto-led National Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI), both of which had agreed to suspend the traditional forms of worship.

According to the Special Adviser Media and Publicity to the Governor, Muhammad Bello, the new law invoked the Sokoto State Infectious Diseases, Immunization, Quarantine and Isolation Regulations, 2020.

He added that the law will henceforth regulate all activities thereto and stipulate punishment and penalties for offenders.

He, however, said the state government had provided an alternative for the clerics to have their sessions recorded via the Internet and sponsored for airing on radio and television stations across the state.

Bello added that in consultation with the state Chief Judge and Chairman of the COVID-19 task force, the state government announced the formal extension of the ban on inter-state movements by another two weeks effective from midnight Friday, April 24, 2020.

“The governor, who reiterated that COVID-19 is real, as the first case has been recorded in the state, appealed to communities sharing borders with the Niger Republic and other states to cooperate with security agencies to ensure that nobody enters the state during the period of the ban,” he said.

He also revealed that Governor Tambuwal directed the state ministry of health to recall and reinstate all retired indigenous medical doctors and health practitioners on the scale on which they left the state employment in order to enhance healthcare delivery.

He said the Governor also instructed the Chief Judge of the state to look into the possibility of medical doctors staying in service longer than the period statutorily stipulated for them now.