A MONTH AFTER ZARIA MASSACCRE: Some Brothers Of The Islamic Movement Still In Army’s Detention Facilities
Contrary to the statement credited to the Commander, 1 Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General AdeniyiOyebade, stating that the Army had handed over all our brothers and sisters to civil authorities and that there is no one with them, we wish to state categorically that there are members of the Islamic Movement still in military detention facilities.
There are no fewer than 700 brothers and sisters that have been
declared missing by the Islamic Movement that are either killed, burnt
alive or in military detention facilities and it is in this figure
that some are victims of mass burials by the Army.
There are still members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in Bassawa
Barracks and Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria as well as in Military
Cantonment Jaji.
Also so, no corpses have been handed over to the Movement by the Army
as some of them are still being kept at Ahmadu Bello University
Teaching Hospital Zaria.
We hereby declare the statement by the GOC that they have handed
everybody over to the police as false and mischievous because with the
way the Army is acting and doing everything possible to cover up its
sins in the massacre, we fear they might eliminate those with them and
claim that they are not with them.
We therefore call for the release of all our members that are
currently in detention and being denied legal services.
BUHARI’S GOVERNMENT DOING JIHAD?
More so, following comments by some Saudi-Wahabbi scholars in various
media outfits commending the government for killing members of the
Islamic Movement in Nigeria and directly praising Governor Nasir
El-rufai and President Muhammadu Buhari for fighting what they
described as a “Jihad for them”, we call the attention of those
concerned to immediately dissociate themselves from such malicious
utterances.
These include sermons delivered in mosques and other religious places
including those of the Emir of Kano, AlhajiSanusiLamidoSanusi, who
declared Nigeria only for Sunnis in public, thereby displaying the
peak of religious intolerance and marginalization of a section of the
society by a traditional ruler.
The government is aware of the activities of these Saudi-Wahabbi
scholars on radio and television especially in Kaduna and the
newspapers where it is directly described as using state machinery to
fight jihad for the Sunnis against the minority Shi’ites of the
Islamic Movement.
We are all aware that there is no such thing as a state religion in
Nigeria and every Nigerian has the constitutional right to practice
any religion of his choice and belong to any sect of his choice but
contrary to this, a democratically elected government is being hailed
for ‘doing jihad’ on behalf of some people.
In as much as the Islamic Movement in Nigeria is a Movement for all
irrespective of sect and religion with a majority Shi’ite membership,
we are concerned about the sectarian sentiment being sponsored by the
state with the intention of intimidating the members of the Movement.
It is the duty of the government to assure Nigerians that it is not
involved in using state apparatus in launching attack on and
segregating a part of the citizenry because they do not belong to
their religious faith.
SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
NATIONAL PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT
0805 078 6093
12-01-16