Bauchi state Shari’ahCommission has confiscated thousands of whot cards known as Karta or Chacha in
the local Hausa Language from a popular joint in the state capital.In an operationfollowing intelligence report and complaints from concerned citizens, thecommission made the seizure at the premises of the Nigerian Railway Corporation’sheadquarters in Bauchi.
Hisbah Commander in thecommission Ibrahim Musa Yisin who led the operation said over two hundredpeople converge on the joint daily including top and middle level federal andstate governments workers.
“They stationed themselves within the premises of the Nigerian Railway Corporation in groups where they do the Karta every evening”, says Yisin.
playing Whot game or Karta is prohibited under sections 95 and 392 of the state Shari’ah legal system and therefore punishable by fine or imprisonment.
According to him, thecommission had in addition to enlightenment on the mainstream media, alsopasted posters in public places detailing the offences prohibited under theShari’ah legal system- which the state has been implementing since 2001.
Noarrest was effected
Yisin however said, thecommission’s operatives did not arrest any of the over two hundred participants,as the operation was what he described as “warning” to the perpetrators.
“The operation wasmerely a kind of warning under the Shari’ah legal system in which we arerequired to preach and admonish people commiting such minor offneces”.
The commander however expresseddismay on how some of the participants threatened his personnel by vowing “toreact if they go back to the same spot on an operation” – an action he saidamounts to taking laws into hand and obstructing staff on duty.
Both of these actionsaccording to him are punishable under the state’s laws.
