The Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Zulum, has banned the sale of alcoholic drinks in the state.
Zulum made the announcement on Tuesday at the inauguration of a reconstituted committee on “revocation of illegal hotels, brothels, shanties, and criminal hideouts and curbing the menace of antisocial vices” at the council chambers of the government house in Maiduguri, the state capital.
Zulum also reformed and empowered the committee to rid the state of all sorts of criminality and antisocial behaviour in the Maiduguri capital and neighbouring areas.
The governor stated that the prohibition on the sale and use of spirits and alcoholic beverages originates from an increase in cases of fights between competing groups, cultism, prostitution, drug abuse, thuggery, and theft, which have resulted in the loss of lives and property.
The committee includes military, police, civil defence, and civilian security agencies, including the JTF, for a comprehensive approach.
Former and current Nigerian security personnel have been accused of instilling criminality, radicalism, prostitution, and other vices in the civilian population, leading to increased terrorism threats in the state.
“I am happy to know that army officers are here, especially the military, police, and others, because most of these activities were committed by whom? Some of them are dismissed army officers, dismissed security officers, current army officers, men and officers, including civilians.
“So, there should be no sacred cow in this matter if we want the Maiduguri metropolis and indeed the state to get rid of insurgency, terrorism and other sorts of criminalities,” Zulum said.
