Abuja — FEDERAL Government yesterday alerted that it had collated intelligence reports linking Kano State government with plans to cause possible national security breach by training Jihadists in the areas of "intelligence and practice of Jihad."

The government has also outlawed state security outfit, Hisbah Corps reportedly trained by foreign agents as well as restrained the Abia State government from forming its proposed security outfit.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr, who briefed State House correspondents on the issue, said government had ordered investigations into the intelligence reports it got on the Hisbah Corps.

According to him, the security outfit, which the state government explained would be used to oversee the implementation of Sharia law, was a threat to national security.

This, he stated, was because the outfit was being turned to a parallel police with foreign connections, a development that could pose threat to the nation's sovereignty.

Text of the Minister's press statement read:

"The Federal Government has noted with concern the recent actions by some state governments which directly contravene the provisions of Section 214, Subsection 1 of the Nigerian Constitution which states that:

There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria â-oeâ-oe, and subject to the provisions of this section no other Police Force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.

"In a clear contravention of this constitutional provision, the Abia State House of Assembly has, at the behest of the state governor, exceeded its powers by purportedly passing a law to establish an illegal security outfit for the state.

"Similarly, information available to the Federal Government indicates that there is an attempt to convert the Hisbah Corps, which was set up by the Kano State Government, ostensibly to oversee the implementation of Sharia law in the state, to a parallel security outfit with foreign connections that pose a potential threat to national security.

"It has also come to the knowledge of the Federal Government that the Kano State Hisbah Board has, with brazen disregard for the overriding imperatives of national security, sought the assistance of foreign governments for the training of "100 jihadists" in the areas of "intelligence" and "practice of jihad". The Federal Government has ordered investigations into the intelligence reports in this regard.

"Further to the statement already issued by the Inspector-General of Police on the illegality of these acts, the Federal Government wishes to state emphatically that it will not tolerate the establishment of unconstitutional and illegal security outfits by governments, groups or individuals in any part of the country under any guise.

"The Federal Government urges state governors in particular to remain true to their oaths of office and refrain from actions which are clearly unconstitutional and pose an obvious threat to the national unity and security.

"It bears restating that the Federal Government will not condone or tolerate illegal actions by other tiers of government which jeopardize the ability of ordinary Nigerians to live in peace in any part of the country without fear of oppression or religious intolerance."

But reacting to Mr. Ehindero's pronouncement, Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State has threatened to resign his position than to allow the Sharia enforcers to be banned.

Governor Shekarau said that the enforcers were backed by law, advising those against them to seek redress from the court.

He maintained that the people of the state asked for the setting up of the sharia law enforcers, insisting that no power can stop the indigenes' aspiration.

The Kano governor blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led opposition in the state for the crisis in the state.

Meanwhile, the commandant of the Sharia Enforcement unit, Sheik Yahaya Farouk, was yesterday whisked by the police to Abuja.