KANO, July 22: The teenage son of a Nigerian state governor was whipped by religious police after attending a party, officials said Friday, in a rare example of a rich and powerful family falling prey to Islamic law. Fifteen-year-old Samir Ahmed, the son of Zamfara State governor Ahmed Sani, was publicly given 13 symbolic lashes after his father handed him over to the “hisbah”, or religious enforcers, following a raid on late-night revellers.

The head of Zamfara’s hisbah, Sanusi Kwatarkwashi, said: “Our men disrupted a party organized by some young boys and girls at the outskirts of the town.

“It is against Sharia regulations for men and women to mix, especially in an immoral atmosphere,” he said.

“There were over 30 youths at the party and our men succeeded in arresting 18 of them but the rest managed to escape, including the governor’s son and the deputy governors daughter,” he added.—AFP