Members of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), held a solidarity demonstration against the continued incarceration of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, in London yesterday.
The protest, which came ahead of today’s court ruling on El-Zakzaky’s bail application, took place outside the Nigerian High Commission by Trafalgar Square. It also followed Friday’s order by the Federal High Court in Abuja proscribing IMN.
Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court on July 18, 2019 adjourned ruling on the application filed by the leader seeking permission to undergo medical treatment abroad.
Although the demonstration marked the end of the 18-day 24-hour action they had embarked upon, the organisers said they were ready to “escalate” matters if he’s not granted bail accordingly. “We will march outside Nigerian companies and the bank at Shepherd’s Bush and other places,” one of the speakers said.
IHRC Chair Massoud Shadjareh in an interview said: “El-Zakzaky needs to travel outside Nigeria to get treatment. There’s no way they can treat him in Nigeria.”
According to Shadjareh, there is a division among government’s officials about El-Zakzaky’s continued detention. According to him, “Some of the officials want him out, but others don’t want.”
Asked if he thought there was any external factor at play on El-Zakzaky’s incarceration, he alleged: “Saudis. It’s Saudi Arabia. They don’t want him out. They’ve given the government millions of dollars.”
Reacting to the proscription yesterday, IMN, also known as Shiites, said: “We are in consultations with our lawyers. We would, as a peaceful people who have been victims of Buhari’s government-sponsored terror attacks throughout his first term and continuing, give an appropriate response.”
A statement released by the president of IMN Media Forum, Mallam Ibrahim Musa, said: “We want to assure the general public and the international community that we will not be pushed into taking any rash decision no matter the provocation.
“This order, we believe, was hastily obtained to sweep under the carpet the glaring human rights abuses suffered by the Islamic Movement at the hands of Buhari’s administration since the Zaria genocide of December, 2015.
“We reject any false flag terror attacks that the authorities would be plotting in our name, and by this assure the general public that we have never contemplated the use of terror tactics in our ways. This is not about to change.”
This came as another Shiites’ group yesterday issued a clarification on the Federal Government’s action, saying only IMN and not the entire Shiites community in Nigeria was affected by the ban.
Sale Sani Zaria, the secretary general of Rasulul Aazam Foundation (RAAF) told reporters in Gombe, Gombe State: “The attention of our organisation has been drawn to news making the rounds that the Nigerian government placed a ban on the activities of Shiites across the country. The government didn’t ban Shiites’ activities but the activities of IMN.”
According to him, there are about nine other organisations that subscribe to the Shiites’ Islamic ideology besides IMN.
“We are law-abiding citizens and our foundation is building schools and a society where everybody can live in peace. We believe in the Nigerian system. That was why we publicly encouraged our members to get registered and participate in the 2019 general elections.”
The RAAF scribe urged IMN members to seek justice the legal way, even as he enjoined government to resolve the matter professionally.
The presidency equally issued a statement saying the proscription does not affect the larger number of peaceful and law-abiding Shiites in the country.
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu said: “The IMN is deliberately changing the narrative in order to gain sympathy and divert the attention of the world from its terrorist activities, including attacking soldiers, killing policemen and a youth corps member, destroying government ambulances and public property, consistently defying authority of the state.
“Having defied appeals to operate peacefully, and given their seeming determination to destabilise the country, the government had to act before the situation goes out of control, after admonishing many times over that people should not use religion to perpetrate lawlessness.
“We are fighting lawlessness and criminality and not pursuing a policy of discrimination against any group. You cannot be in court while at the same time engaging in violent protests, molesting people and inflicting pains on others, including taking innocent lives.”
