Shiite protest

A new murderous beat may join the blood splash in the land

We are alarmed that the theatre of blood-letting in the country keeps mutating. Last week, the increasingly notorious Shiite protesters continued their protest in Abuja, despite the havoc their actions have brought on the residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In a clash with the police, two precious lives were sacrificed. A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member serving with Channels Television, Precious Owolabi, and a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Umar, were killed by bullets during the protest.

Sadly, neither the Shiites nor the police have accepted responsibility for the untimely deaths. The Shiite leaders claim that it was infiltrators in their midst that caused the violence commonly associated with their protests, even when they have failed to apprehend any such fifth columnist. They refuse to bear responsibility for their members’ easy resort to violence to push forward their demands. In a functional society, the Shiites would be called to answer for the killing of these two Nigerians.

On its part, the security agencies have exhibited incapacity to manage the protesters. Some even view protest as unlawful conduct against the state, and so easily resort to armed conflict with protesters. Perhaps it needs to be reiterated that non-violent public protest is a legitimate democratic exercise, and those who choose it to drive home their point must be treated as persons exercising democratic rights. So, the use of firearms to quell protests where the protesters are unarmed is a breach of a constitutionally guaranteed right of citizens.

Of note, protesters and law enforcement agencies must apply caution in exercising their rights and responsibilities, for the society to survive. In the instant case, the Shiites must appreciate that their method has become a pain to their fellow citizens. Perhaps, they need to deploy better ways of pushing their demands without getting the general public to turn against them as enemies, instead of sympathising over their plight.

The Federal Government must also bear responsibility for the tragic deaths. After all, it was its actions and inactions that led indirectly to the two deaths. First, the Federal Government has refused to release the leader of the Shiites, Mallam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, despite a court order. That is the fact, even as Kaduna State government tries to pull wool over our eyes. It is public knowledge that a Federal High Court granted bail to the Shiite leader on clearly spell-out terms.

That court ordered that El-Zakzaky be released, and put in a secure house built by the government which demolished his house, and security provided for him. Even without being lawyers, we know that the argument by the Federal Government that it has appealed the judgment is not enough justification. Without an order of stay of the order of court, the Federal Government cannot rely on a mere appeal to continue to detain the Shiite leader.

That is the law, although the Federal Government later charged the Shiite leader to a state High Court in Kaduna, and is using that cover to continue to hold El-Zakzaky. Even if we leave the courts to sort out the legal tango, the Federal Government should know that the continued detention of the Shiite leader has mutated into a political issue. With the majority of Muslims in Nigeria, including President Muhammadu Buhari, belonging to the Sunni sect, it is humbug to think that the continued detention can be divorced from the different affiliations of the protagonists. So, what to do with the Shiite leader is as much a legal issue as it is a political issue.

Again on this score, the recent boast of Mallam El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, that the government cannot be stampeded to release the Shiite leader is hogwash, considering that it is the Abuja residents that are now paying heavily  for a supposed Kaduna State problem. Secondly the Federal Government must realise that it has proved incapable of reining in the Shiites, using reasonable force, and therefore it needs to quickly decide how to efficiently stop the crisis.

With Abuja successfully scalped by the protesters, the rumour that they are mobilising in other major cities across the country, is worrying. If they try to visit the havoc they have wreaked on Abuja on Lagos with its mega population, the outcome of such a clash can only be better imagined. The Federal Government must worry that other citizens may choose to confront the menace violently, and such a clash may lead to more deaths of innocent citizens.

While the Shiites are furiously decapitating their social capital as a lawful organisation, the security agencies must avoid a repeat of the Boko Haram tragedy, where other angry persons joined a charged cause to cause more havoc in the society. Again, with herdsmen on the murderous beat, there is more than enough crisis hampering progress in the country.