RAMADAN : SOKOTO GOVERNMENT PROHIBITS PUBLIC PREACHING AND GATHERING OF FAITHFUL AT RAMADAN.

By  ANENE AIKE, SOKOTO

The Governor of Sokoto stste, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of has on Friday signed a law prohibiting preachings and public gathering during Ramadan.

The governor said the new law revokes the Sokoto State Infectious Diseases, Immunization, Quarantine and Isolation Regulations 2020 which would henceforth regulate all activities thereto and stipulate punishment and penalties for offenders.

He also stated that  the law was directed at the suspension of Tafsir, Tarawih and Tuhajjud in congregational activities during the fasting period, while  stressing that the action was taken due to the state government's adoption of position of the  National Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the Jama'atul Nasril Islam (JNI),lead by the Sultan of Sokoto which had agreed to suspend the usial muslim traditional forms of worship.

According to the governor, the state government has provided an alternative for the Ulama who normally preach at this time to have their sessions recorded via internet and sponsored for airing  on radio and television stations across the state.

Also, 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 Niger Republic and other states to cooperate with security agencies to ensure that nobody enters the state during the period of the ban.

He 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 employ in order to enhance healthcare delivery.

Governor Tambuwal 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.
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