Islamic Movement in Nigeria to continue its protests despite the killing of many of its members

SHIITE group the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) is continuing its protests despite security forces opening fire on the sect killing dozens of unarmed protesters and arresting about 400 of its members over the last four days.

Since the weekend, IMN has held protests in Abuja and several other cities demanding the release of their spiritual leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. In 2015, Sheikh El-Zakzaky was arrested after his members had a confrontation with the motorcade of the chief of army staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, Kaduna State and has been in detention since.

Despite the fact that the IMN protests were largely peaceful, the police and army opened fire on the protesters, killing scores and arresting hundreds of marchers. Dr Shuaibu Musa, a senior member of IMN’s media forum insisted that all its protest marches have been peaceful and unnoticed except on occasions when security operatives interfered.

He accused the government of peddling falsehood in its narratives of the violent clashes between the sect and security operatives. According to Dr Musa, no member of IMN has been convicted of either civil disobedience or the murder of innocent citizens in the course of the group’s past religious processions and protest marches for the release of Sheikh El-Zakzaky.

Dr Musa said: “The claims that we are moving around with weapons are unsubstantiated. All the marches we have done previously without army or police interference have always ended up peacefully, so the question to ask is who have we ever attacked?

“Let me tell you in Abuja we held a daily sit-out for over 100 days and nobody was hurt until the security agents came and attacked us. What is confrontational about a group of people that would come out en masse with their children, women and even their disabled to make their voices heard?

"What is confrontational in the way we have conducted ourselves even in the face of severe provocation. We have never blocked any route. We don’t participate in the so-called ethnic and religious confrontations that have been taking place all over the country and anybody that has stayed in Kaduna will tell you that the homes of IMN sheikhs and imams are the abode of safety for all during these crises."

He added that they are not saying everybody must agree with their ways of doing things but IMN must not also be prevented from doing things its way as long as it has not harmed anyone. On the violence and bloodshed that trailed the on-going Arbaeen mourning procession in Zuba and other districts of the Federal Capital Territory and its environs, Dr Musa said that 17 people have been confirmed killed on Monday.

Dr Musa added: “As we speak, we have 17 people confirmed killed in Abuja on Monday and last Saturday, we had six dead bodies from the Zuba Killings. The security agents are liars as some of the bodies the army took away were dumped with the police and we have recovered them.

"By the time, we will be doing the burials, you will see that the dead were real individuals and citizens. They killed and then dragged the corpses and there are video clips that showed the soldiers were shooting and dragging the corpses and even preventing people from getting medical attention."

According to Dr Musa, after the protest marches, the IMN will take time to do a census of its members. He added that the movement has the names and addresses of every person that has lost his life so far.