The Zaria Massacre: Ten Months after

It is almost ten months since the blood-sucking Nigerian Army embarked

upon one of the most heinous massacres in recent memory, with hundreds

of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria being sprayed with

bullets and massacred like ants, despite the monstrosity of the

killings, despite the wanton destructions it caused, the killings did

not even deserve a wink of sympathy from a president who is supposed

to be a president for all.
His silence, despite international outcry showed his tacit approval

and the way he pinned the blame solely on members of the Islamic

Movement, who entirely bore the brunt of the massacre, had added

credence to our long-standing allegation that he surreptitiously

ordered the killings. The Zaria massacre has without doubt brought to

light various enemies’ plots against Shias which were executed after

various attempts failed to materialize, and it is only a staunch hater

whose visceral hatred towards Shia beclouds his sense of humanity,

would agree Shias deserved to be massacred for allegedly blocking a

road. I can go on.
It was a sunny day on 13th December, 2016 when hundreds of soldiers

were dispatched at the front gate of Hussainiyya Baqiyatullah, and no

sooner had they been deployed than they started killing our members in

cold-blood, long before the arrival of brutal Burutai and when they

demonstrated in protest, they were filmed and used as a Trojan horse

to justify their massacre. Having falsely accused Shias of attempting

to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff, Brutai, the army returned to

the sanctuary and massacred hundreds in the process. Shortly

afterwards, another siege was laid to the residence of Sheikh Ibraheem

Zakzaky which also culminated in the killing of hundreds including

high profile members of the movement, women, and infants were not

spared either as they were gruesomely killed and burnt to cinder

before they proceeded to Darur Rahma where they, after killing another

hundreds of Shias, desecrated the graves of our martyrs and razed down

the graveyards altogether.
What ensued after the 48 hours of blood-letting was not commensurate

with the enemies’ expectations which they thought we would be

radicalized into Boko Haram-like militants not knowing that Zakzaky

was, is and will forever be an exponent of peace, and he would not

have been able to convert millions of people into the fold of Shi’ism

had he ever used violence for anything.
The Zaria massacre has produced more than 400 widows. More than 72

infants were killed, more than 1000 people were massacred in Gyallesu,

Hussainiyya and Darur Rahma combined. Yet, not a single corpse was

handed over to us for proper burial: the victims were crammed into two

mass graves in order to cover up their crimes. Dozens of people were

burnt beyond recognition when Zakzaky’s house was set ablaze.

All these barbaric attacks were carried out with little attention from

the mainstream media who only tried to downplay the magnitude of our

killings. Ten months after the massacre, our supreme leader, Zakzaky,

wife and hundreds of our members are still being detained without

reasons in spite of the fact that the country claims to be practicing

democracy which bans the illegal detention of persons without

justification. Zakzaky has now lost six of his children, his eye

wounded, his wife shot several times and hundreds of his followers are

languishing in various prisons across the country while dozens of

others disappeared with a trace.
Almost ten months after the massacre of our people, there is still no

justice in sight- not even any sign that the Nigerian government would

account for the bodies of more than a thousand Shias believed to be

buried in mass graves. There is no sign of willingness from the

government that our killers would be brought to book. Our resort is

not violence or lawlessness, we only demand justice and will not

relent protesting and demanding justice for our massacred brothers and

sisters who were killed unjustifiably, we will not give up following

every legal mean to secure redress for the destruction of our

properties and we will not cave in protesting until our leader Zakzaky

is released unconditionally.