Kano Hisbah bans Black Friday sales

The Kano State Hisbah Board has prohibited the conduct of the planned holiday clearance sales tagged “Black Friday” by a radio station in the state.

The religious police, in a November 26 letter to the management of Cool FM 96.9 Kano, impressed upon the station’s handlers that the demography of the state’s residents is predominantly Muslim, hence considers “Friday as Holy Day.”

The Hisbah corps — notable for enforcing compliance with Sharia law — demanded an immediate retraction of the “Black Friday” tag.

It added that the religious squad “will be around for surveillance purposes with a view to avoiding occurrence of any immoral activities” in the state.

The radio station has yet to comment on the corps’ demand. Peoples Gazette could not immediately confirm if the station would go ahead with the planned sales.

Black Friday is a special shopping period when retailers offer promoted sales to customers. But the sale may be hampered in Kano, where members of the religious police have banned sale of alcoholic drinks, restricted social interaction between men and women, amongst other measures.