Nigeria State Cracks Down On Unauthorized Sharia Police Amid Deadly Attacks

By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

ABUJA/JOS, NIGERIA (Worthy News) – Authorities in Nigeria’s predominantly Christian Plateau State have ordered a crackdown on an unauthorized Islamic religious police group attempting to enforce aspects of Sharia, or Islamic law, amid broader concerns about pressure on Christians and fresh deadly violence in Nigeria’s troubled Middle Belt region.

Plateau State Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang ordered security agencies to halt activities by people operating under the name Hisbah in parts of Jos North Local Government Area, declaring their operations “illegal, unauthorized and unacceptable.”

The order followed reports that members of the group had harassed and intimidated residents, demanded money and attempted to impose unauthorized rules and restrictions.

Mutfwang warned that those involved could face arrest and prosecution, stressing that Plateau operates under “one Constitution, one legal system and one legitimate authority.” He said no group could establish a parallel enforcement system or assume powers reserved for legally constituted authorities.

The governor also directed security agencies to investigate individuals or organizations suspected of financing, sponsoring or facilitating the unauthorized activities and to protect residents from harassment, intimidation, extortion and coercion.

SHARIA POLICE

Twelve predominantly Muslim northern Nigerian states have introduced Sharia law and established religious police, known as Hisbah, to enforce aspects of Islamic law among Muslims, according to persecution watchdog Voice of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC).

While Hisbah’s formal religious jurisdiction generally applies to Muslims, its activities and enforcement measures have also affected minority Christians. VOMC recently highlighted a case in Kano State in which Hisbah members brought charges against a Christian woman despite, according to the organization, lacking the authority to do so.

“Unlike many northern states, Sharia law has not been instituted in Plateau State, where Christians make up the majority of the population,” VOMC said in a statement to Worthy News.

Yet a group began operating anyway as self-appointed Hisbah police, “reportedly harassing residents, demanding money from them, and imposing rules and restrictions without any legal authority,” the organization added.

Mutfwang stressed that his directive was not aimed at Muslims or any other religious or ethnic community, saying residents of all backgrounds had the right to live, worship and work without interference from self-appointed authorities.

CHRISTIANS UNDER PRESSURE

The controversy comes amid renewed bloodshed in Plateau, part of Nigeria’s Middle Belt, a central region between the predominantly Muslim north and largely Christian south that has suffered years of violence involving armed groups, communal tensions and disputes over land and resources.

At least 13 people were reported killed in separate attacks in Jos South, Mangu and Riyom local government areas on September 13. Nine were passengers traveling toward Jos when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle at Dungus community, while four others were killed in attacks in Mangu and Riyom.

By September 15, reports indicated that at least 20 people had been killed in attacks across Plateau within roughly a week, prompting senior Nigerian police officials to intervene as authorities faced renewed pressure to halt the bloodshed.

Violence has also continued in neighboring Benue State, another predominantly Christian part of Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Four police officers and seven civilians were killed when armed attackers stormed Ayilamo community in Logo Local Government Area on September 10.

Police said security forces fought the attackers for about seven hours before forcing them into surrounding forests. Two more police officers deployed in the area were subsequently killed in an ambush, Nigerian media reported.

DEADLY MIDDLE BELT VIOLENCE

Local residents have blamed armed Fulani militants for numerous attacks in the region, while Nigerian authorities have often referred more broadly to perpetrators as armed bandits. Analysts say the Middle Belt crisis involves overlapping religious and ethnic tensions, disputes over land and grazing rights, organized crime and competition for increasingly scarce resources.

Christian advocacy groups, however, have repeatedly warned that Christians are disproportionately affected by violence in several areas and say religious motives should not be overlooked when assessing attacks on predominantly Christian communities.

VOMC said the latest developments come amid continuing religious tensions and insecurity in Nigeria, where Christian communities have faced deadly attacks by Islamist militants and other armed groups.

The organization urged Christians worldwide to pray for Nigerian believers experiencing “intimidation, discrimination and threats of violence” and for families mourning loved ones killed in previous attacks.

It also called for prayers for Nigeria’s governing leaders, hoping they would “consistently promote justice, protect the rights of all citizens” and ensure peace and security within their communities.

NIGERIA RANKS SEVENTH

Nigeria ranks seventh on the 2026 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution, compiled by Christian advocacy group Open Doors.

Open Doors said 3,490 Nigerian Christians were killed because of their Christian identity during the latest World Watch List reporting period, accounting for most of the 4,849 such deaths it documented worldwide.

The organization says Christians face particularly severe pressure in northern Nigeria, where Sharia law operates in 12 states, while Islamist militants and other armed groups have carried out attacks across northern and central areas of Africa’s most populous nation.

Nigeria is simultaneously battling Islamist insurgencies and kidnapping networks. On September 17, Nigeria’s State Security Service opened the trial of five suspected members of Ansaru, an Islamist militant organization linked to al-Qaida, over the May abduction of pupils and teachers from schools in southwestern Oyo State.

The five defendants pleaded not guilty to seven terrorism-related charges in Abuja. A prosecution witness said gunmen seized 39 pupils and seven teachers and held them in a forest for 56 days. One teacher died in captivity before security forces eventually rescued 39 pupils and six teachers.

WIDER SECURITY CRISIS

The developments underscore Nigeria’s complex security crisis, ranging from Islamist insurgencies and kidnappings to deadly violence in the Middle Belt.

Mutfwang has called for establishing state police forces, arguing that Nigeria’s centralized system cannot adequately address local security threats.

For Christians in Plateau and surrounding areas, the violence and emergence of an unauthorized Hisbah group have renewed concerns about their security despite repeated government pledges to improve protection.

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.

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