Cinemas and video centres were also closed.  Boys and girls were divided into separate schools while commercial motorcyclists popularly known as “Okada” who were Muslims were banned from carrying women passengers.  Taxis were purchased by the government and distributed on loan to be carrying women only. Gambling was also banned.
According to Ikechukwu who just returned to Gusau last year, the Sharia days were like hell. “I will never forget what I went through in the hands of the Yan’agaji (Sharia enforcement agents)” he said as he narrated the story of his running battle the Sharia enforces and how he eventually left the town when he could no longer withstand the persistent harassment.
“I was operating a beer parlour. So when they started this Sharia, they said that we should stop selling beer inside the town. Nobody was coming to patronise me again because everybody, especially some of the Muslims were afraid, because when they catch them, they will deal with them. I was making plans to relocate to Mammy Market because there is no Sharia in Mammy Market. One day at about 9 pm, this Yan’agaji people just came and surrounded my place and said I was selling beer.
 
“They started breaking the empty bottles in the store. They broke even soft drinks and wine which are non alcoholic. They beat me and forcefully carried me away to their office and kept me there. They abused me and called me all sort of names. My relations and friends came to beg before they released me.
“They continued visiting my house everyday and each time they came, they will search everywhere, it was a very humiliating experience and I decided to leave the town for Abuja because the trouble was too much” Ikechukwu recalled in an interview in Gusau.
He added that he returned to Gusau last year after the former governor left office, pointing out however that he no longer operates a beer parlour.
For James Moses, life in Gusau during the implementation of the Sharia legal system was a horror.  His mother also operates a beer parlour within her resident, a house she built several years ago. On several occasions the Sharia enforcers will raid their resident and arrest their mother. They will arraign her before a Sharia court but the court will set her free.
The harassment and intimidation, according to Moses, was getting too much even though their mother stopped selling beer.
“Every day the Sharia people will come to our house and search everywhere in our house, they were also hunting for their Muslim people thinking they may be hiding and drinking in our house.
“They will come to our house and break our doors and forced our fridge opened. They said they were looking for drinks. They took our mother to court several times. When they carry her to court, the court will give her bail.
“There was a time they came and we fought with them very well. The harassment was becoming something else and we decided to face them. It was not a small fight. They carried us and put inside their motor, as they were going with us, we jumped off the motor. They were always arresting our mother, they were brutalizing her. The thing made our mother to leave the town. She is now with our senior brother in Abuja. But now things are normal. She has been coming here, she will come and spend one or two weeks in Gusau before going back to Abuja” the 21 year old boy narrated.
 
They brutalized our mother. She even snapped the pictures of how they brutalized her. Even last December 2008 they came here.
Recalling his experience during the peak of the Sharia enforcement, Abraham Patrick (not real name) who works in one of the federal establishments in Gusau, recalled how his fiancée almost lost her life for riding on a bike.
“You know during that time Muslim Okada operators were not allowed to carry women on a bike. But Christians were allowed to carry Christian women on bike. It was around 9 pm and we were going to Gada Biu from Tudun-Wada. We stop two Oka riders to carry us home. I thought that the two of them were Christians. When we got to the central police station, I noticed that the guy that was carrying my fiancée was speeding too much. I didn’t know that the Yan’agaji were pursuing him. The Yan’agaji were also on a bike and the guy carrying my fiancée, unknown to us is a Muslim and he was being chased.
“They crashed near the bridge around the Federal Medical Centre. My fiancée sustained serious injuries on her knees and we took her to the hospital. The Okada man was badly wounded too; they arrested him and went with him. I don’t know what they did to him. I threatened to sue them but, I knew it will be fruitless doing so.
However, two years after the former Governor of Zamfara state, Alhaji Ahmed Sani( now a senator) who introduced the Islamic legal code left office, residents of Gusau seem to be breathing a new lease of life.
Ask people on the street about sharia and they will tell you that the former Governor has gone to Abuja with his Sharia. That is the answer some of the Okada riders will give you.
Ibrahim Abdullahi is one of them. He was carrying a lady on his bike. This reported had accosted him to know why he was carrying a woman on his bike despite the fact that it is prohibited by the Islamic legal code.
The young man simply told the reporter that Yarima has gone to Abuja with Sharia and sped off.  A new lease of life has returned to Gusau and some of those who left the town had since returned.
 
Rev. Bulama Samuel Bulus, the Secretary of the Zamfara state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), stressed that at inception of the Sharia, Christian women were molested over transport problem.
“You know motor cycle is the major means of transportation here. So when they started this, our women were at the receiving end even though Christian commercial motorcyclists were allowed to carry women, very often they were harassed by the Sharia police.
“But today the situation has changed. There is no problem today. The political situation in the state seems to overshadow the Sharia. The political situation is a little bit scary because of fighting here and there because of the rivalry between the PDP and the ANPP. There had been frequent clashes between the rival political parties. But to the glory of God, the church is not affected…
“For the past two years it has been so good. You see generally in northern Nigeria, Christians are not being fairly treated in some states of the north. For instance in Zamfara here, there is a ministry of religious affairs, but there is no section in that ministry that handles Christian matters. The former Governor, Ahmed Sani appointed a special adviser on Christian matters, but the present government does not have such a position. For the past two years we have not experienced any form of harassment.
“We have very serious issues affecting us and we seriously desire to bring them to the attention of the Governor. For instance, the Christian grave yard in Gusau has been exhausted. We wanted to bury somebody recently but there was just no space, the whole place has no space again. If we have Christian pilgrims board or agency, it will go a long way in ensuring that Christians who want to sponsor themselves to Jerusalem do so without having to go to Kaduna to facilitate their going.  But as it is, they have to go to Kaduna which attracts an additional cost.
“Another issue is that Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) is not being taught in public schools in Zamfara state. Only private schools owned by Christians teach CRK. In fact CAN in the state is responsible for the recruitment and payment of salaries of the CRK teachers in the private schools. As at now we have over 10 teachers that were recruited and are being paid by CAN in Zamfara state. We depend on the good will of well meaning individuals and contributions from churches and other corporate bodies to raise funds to pay the teachers” the clergyman said.
 
Former Governor Sani launched the Islamic legal code on the 27th of October, 1999 at the Ali Akilu Square in Gusau, the state capital with thousands of Muslims faithful from other northern states marching excitedly around the streets. The actual implementation of the legal code actually stated in January 2000.
The former Governor had told the gathering that Muslims in Nigeria had been dormant, inactive and in a state of slumber for too long.
“Let me make it unequivocally clear to all that we are not unaware of the multifarious nature of our society as a multi-religious and multi-ethnic one and we therefore do not intend to impose the Sharia law on the non Muslims in the state as is being deliberately and mischievously  falsified by some agents of blackmail. Nor do we also harbour any ulterior motive against any group of people than our overwhelming majority of Muslim citizens in Zamfara state.
“With all the human and material resources which Allah has blessed us, it is rather unfortunate that we have been in this disheartening situation to the detriment of the religion of Islam, it has therefore become pertinent that we wake from these sorry state of slumber and live up to our responsibility to the Almighty in order to avoid His Curse, Wal Iyazu Billahi.
“Muslims have for too long yearned for the freedom to exercise their full rights since the period they were invaded and colonized by the British. We only partially achieved victory with independence but our neglect of planning has robbed us of the fruits of our struggles.
“Alhamdu Lillahi, the struggles had not gone in vain for the Islamic order we envisage has now emerged. We must do away with all the ‘isms’ left behind by the colonialists. What we have embarked upon now is the continuation of the struggles started by our foresighted leader, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello of blessed memory” he declared during the launching.
Unfortunately, nine years after the introduction of the Sharia, Zamfara is still grappling with problems of underdevelopment. It was created out of Sokoto State in October, 1996.
The present governor, Alhaji Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi who was deputy to Yarima for eight years, appears to have adopted unofficially, a more liberal approach to Sharia. Shinkafi has erected a hospital, tagged “Millennium Hospital at the Ali Akilu Square which used to be the venue for the Friday preaching session which was usually transmitted live on the state owned radio. The preaching session now holds at the Township Stadium in Sabon Gari area of Gusau.
Although drinking of alcohol is restricted to places like the Mammy Market and Army Officers Mess both located at the outskirt of the town, it appears there is no more restriction on women riding on Okada. Most of the Taxis meant for Women only, seem to have parked off as only a few were seen plying the roads.
Parties are being held in hotels with music as boys and girls dance together. This was considered a serious crime when the Sharia was active. A party was organised in one of the Hotels in Gusau as at the time of this research. The place was jam parked with boys and girls dancing together and holding each other.
 At the mammy market and army officers Mess, hundreds of prostitutes, barely nude, flock around as they scout for interested customers. Men and women drink to stupor.  During the hey days of the Sharia, the Sharia police would mount a road block some few meters away from the  market to arrest the Muslims  coming out from the place as well as those Okada people (motor bikes) carrying women.
Critics of the former governor accused him of wasting resources, maintaining that Sharia has not really brought about the desired social and economic change that was envisaged.
Gusau, the state capital reveals much about the backwardness of the state: Lack of good road network within the state capital, poor drainage system, narrow roads and so on are the visible feature of Gusau.
Beggars litter everywhere, including the resident of Senator Sani and the front gate of the Government House. At strategic places, one can see old men, women as well as children in tattered, dirty rags sitting on the ground begging for food.
 
ENDS