Nigerian gov’t increases repression of Shi’a Muslim citizens

It is unfortunate that the government and military top brass of Nigeria, despite claiming to be Muslims, have embarked on a campaign to increase the repression of the country’s growing Shi’a Muslim community, on the orders of Saudi Arabia, which ironically is the sponsor of the Boko Haram Salafi terrorists, freely indulging in all sorts of crimes against humanity in West Africa’s largest country. Now we have a report in this regard.

According to estimates, Shi’a Muslims number over ten million in Nigeria, and in spite of their peace-loving nature have seen the constant erosion of their birthrights over the past few years, especially after the coming to power of the government of President Mohammad Buhari, who has reneged on his election promises of guaranteeing liberties for all strata of the Nigerian population. One of the chief culprits in the recent atmosphere of repression in Nigeria, following last December’s massacre of over 2,000 Shi’a Muslims and the detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, is the governor of Kaduna, Naser ar-Rufai. Recently this person has banned all activities of the Shi’a Muslim community in Kaduna and threatened imprisonment of those openly practicing their beliefs. This is start violation of his promises two years ago in 2014, when on behalf of the then presidential candidate, Mohammad Buhari, he had personally met Sheikh Zakzaky and promised guarantees of all civil liberties to the Shi’a Muslim community. In a recent statement, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), which is led by imprisoned leader, Sheikh Zakzaky says Naser ar-Rufai is shedding crocodile tears after inciting violence against its members. Over the past few days, beginning with the Day of Ashura, the commemoration of the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Husain (AS), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), there have been frequent instances of killing of Nigeria’s Shi’a Muslims. On Wednesday last, the Day of Ashura, Shi’ia Muslims lost over 10 of their members when security agents fired indiscriminately at the peaceful Ashura procession.

The next day on Thursday, -Rufai condemned the attack on the sect and ordered that the perpetrators be brought to book. But in a statement on Thursday, Ibrahim Musa, the IMN’s spokesman, said what happened at its Ashura procession was well-planned and “meticulously executed with all machinery of government.” The statement said: “How then can Rufai now shed crocodile tears having incited violence on a people through his hate posture and actions against such people? They read the body language of the government in their favour and acted based on that, and with full support of all the instruments of governance over which he presides. What happened in the wake of our peaceful Ashura mourning procession was a carefully planned plot, meticulously executed with all machinery of government. The government had all along tried to give their brutal clampdown on Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) members a semblance of an altercation between IMN and the masses.”

The statement further said: “Kaduna state governor, Naser ar-Rufai alluded to this right from the outset of the attacks in December, 2015 in his infamous state-wide broadcast. His utterances and body language since then left no one in doubt his disdain for IMN members. Using all the tools of governance at his disposal, in private and openly, often in total disregard to reason, sanity or law, he exhibited extreme hate for IMN. As a fore-runner to the latest brutality, he issued an executive order banning us from exercising our rights to practice our religion with a threat to jail anyone who does up to seven years in his jail. “We have it on record how certain individuals and hate preachers took to the media and the podium respectively calling on the masses to join the government of Rufai in what they termed an ‘all-out war on Shia.’

The IMN statement said: “The government and Rufai has neither refuted that nor called the perpetrators to order or better still arrested and punished the culprits, since they are well-known and the actions were done in broad daylight. Simply put, Rufai is very much culpable. We wish to remind the public that incitement to murder a vulnerable population can be so subtle. People read body languages, take cues, pick up signals and act accordingly. Other governors have quickly taken cue from him.”

While stating that they would not be blackmailed into violence, the IMN reiterated its call for the release of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, its leader, and other of its members in detention.

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), also termed as “illegitimate” for the Kaduna state government to declare the group illegal and order the arrest of Ibrahim Musa, its spokesman. The state government had declared the group illegal and consequently banned it on Friday, citing sections in the state laws. But, in a statement on Monday, Musa said in effecting the ban of the group’s activities, unwarranted arrests were being made on its members by the police. His statement said: “The Kaduna state government has today gone ahead to trample on the rights of people who were taking part in their religious duty in Kaduna state in scandalous violation of all known sane laws. This is pursuant to the purported ban placed on the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), which itself is in contradiction to the sections of the Nigerian Constitution that guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change one’s religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate one’s religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”

According to the IMN statement: “In effecting this illegitimate ban, unwarranted arrests by policemen were done, and they crudely used clubs and sticks as well as tear gas, injuring some before taking them into custody. Those affected were mostly women and minors, including eight members of the same family as they made their way to attend the Ashura mourning event, which to us is a religious duty. They are all at the moment in illegal custody. In Zaria, armed policemen had been gleefully wielding their arms all over in nooks and crannies of the town, including at the venue of the Ashura congregation. That they move about with ambulances in addition to armoured vehicles would suggest they are ready to attack anytime soon. In Kudan, the police has gone ahead to molest suspected members of the Islamic Movement. The story is virtually the same all across Kaduna state where a significant threat to our lives and properties exists. The recent threat to arrest Ibrahim Musa, the head of our media and publicity aggravates the trampling of our rights to freedom of speech and association individually and collectively. We are also aware that the government has contracted some hoodlums to launch attacks to give it a semblance of general disenchantment with the IMN. Already some hate-mongers seem to announce in their hate preaching across the state their intents to attack our activities and our persons. We are also aware of the plan to attack and take over the IMN centres in Kaduna state by the Police with the intention of disrupting the ongoing Annual Ashura events across the state just as it is being held worldwide. We will like to make it clear, for the avoidance of doubts, that Ashura mourning events and symbolic treks are our religious duties and cannot be banned without trampling on our rights to worship, associate and propagate our beliefs freely.

The statement concluded: “We wish to make it categorically clear that we condemn these acts of state-sponsored terror tactics against the IMN in the strongest of terms. We re-echo our total opposition to Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s impunity, misuse of office and disregard to our constitutionally guaranteed rights. We will continue to lawfully and peacefully challenge and seek redress in the most appropriate ways in the face of all these extreme provocation.”

AS/ME