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Tag: El-Zakzaky

  • Shi’ite leader, El-Zakzaky, wife, return to Nigeria after medical treatment abroad

    Shi’ite leader, El-Zakzaky, wife, return to Nigeria after medical treatment abroad

    The supreme leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenah, have returned to Abuja after spending five months receiving medical treatment in Iran.

    The Shi’ite leader was warmly received by thousands of jubilant supporters at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport before proceeding to the Moshood Abiola Stadium for a grand reception.

    This marked his first major public appearance since his release from Kaduna prison in July 2021, signifying a pivotal moment for both him and his followers.

    Addressing his supporters, Zakzaky expressed profound gratitude for the warm welcome and took the opportunity to share updates about his health following the medical trip.

    Read Also: We are not against Nigerian govt, says El-Zakzaky’s Islamic Movement

    He said: “We are better than we were, even though we have not completed our treatment. Perhaps, after six months, we may have to go back for the continuation of the next stage of treatment. We are very happy that we are back safely.”

    The Shi’ite leader recounted the memorable aspects of his trip, including his meeting with Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution.

    He said this encounter, among others, has fortified his resolve to continue his work in Nigeria and emphasised his determination to persevere despite previous governmental opposition.

    Zakzaky declared: “We will continue what has been started (revivalist Islam). Nothing has stopped. You know the attempt by the last regime was to silence us once and for all, but they could see that we have continued with our activities all through their eight years of tyrannical rule.”

    The Sheikh’s unwavering stance and his first significant interaction with his followers since being acquitted by the High Court of Kaduna State of all charges in 2021 painted a picture of resilience.

    His arrest and that of his wife followed an attack by the Nigerian Army on their residence in December 2015, which led to the tragic loss of about a thousand of his followers, including family members.

    After enduring nearly six years of detention, the couple’s freedom in 2021 and the subsequent return of their travel documents in October 2023 by the federal government, under Bola Ahmad Tinubu, enabled them to seek the necessary medical treatment abroad.

    He said the grand reception symbolised a rejuvenated spirit among his supporters and a reaffirmation of his role in Nigeria’s socio-political landscape.

  • The unexpected return of El-Zakzaky

    AFTER a putrid bout of mutually antagonistic propaganda, the Shi’a leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), has angrily returned to Nigeria from India where he went for medical treatment for injuries sustained when soldiers invaded his premises in Zaria in 2015. He had received court leave nearly two weeks ago to travel out for treatment despite the peevish objections with which the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, hedged the approval. But for the few days he was in India, though unable to achieve his aim, the government never ceased to harry the Shi’a leader with all sorts of propaganda. He was portrayed as a scheming, unruly and ungrateful person. The sheikh could hardly respond, for the government had a far better and greater mastery of the media and propaganda.

    The Shiites must respond to the government’s allegations that he was both pretending and scheming. Did El-Zakzaky angle for asylum by any stretch? Did he ask to be checked into a five-star hotel instead of hospital? Did he ask for his passport to be handed over to him, perhaps preparatory to fleeing? What is, however, clear is that he is back in the Department of State Service (DSS) custody, has not, together with his wife, Zeenat, received any treatment for his ailments, and the tension and restiveness in the vocal and intransigent Shi’a community are back with Nigerians. Strangely, most Nigerians have sensibly refused to commit themselves to one side or the other in the great Shi’a debacle. It makes sense. No one is sure of anything.

    Read Also: The Nigerian military, El-Zakzaky

    Even though this government has not shown by example or by word that it deserves to have any prisoner, having consistently maltreated them most horribly, it must recognise that once it holds anyone in custody, especially someone not sentenced to death, it must spare no resources in ensuring their wellbeing. Both the federal and Kaduna State governments do not give the impression that they understand the rule of law or democracy. They operate more like feudal overlords. Sheikh El-Zakzaky has not been found guilty, as objectionable and abhorrent as some Nigerians might view his sect and his methods. Until the courts find him guilty of giving the order to kill one soldier, and the same court and government exonerate soldiers who murdered 347 Shiite members, the state has an obligation to commit itself to giving the Shi’a leader adequate medical treatment.

    The whole issue is deeply exasperating. What is wrong with his request to have his own doctors treat him, when overindulged government officials at public expense fly abroad to meet the best doctors state money can buy? State officials must be wary of the precedents they are setting today, one in which their prisoners are routinely denied basic rights, while they themselves might on a hypothetical tomorrow fall into the hands of merciless succeeding governments. Sheikh El-Zakzaky has lost about three sons to state brutality, and is now, together with his wife, broken in body, his mind faring only a little better. If state and federal rulers must go to such brutal and extraordinary lengths to compel conformity, and continue to prove their incompetence in managing deviancy, they have no business occupying Government Houses. They may not care now, but history is replete with examples of rulers who live to regret their folly after they vacate office and fall into the hands of their enemies.

  • The Nigerian military, El-Zakzaky

    To say that the Nigerian military is stressed is to understate matters

    It no longer rains in Nigeria, it pours. Emeritus Professor Olatunji Dare has that inimitable way of describing Nigeria’s multiplicity of unceasing waoh-events that hardly leave you the minutest gap to breathe easy. I refer here to his: Matters Miscellaneous.

    We went through such in the past couple of days and since we have this way in Nigeria of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, I will not be surprised if, pretty soon, we birth another Boko Haram from the manner in which the government is currently handling its business with El-Zakzaky of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (MIN).

    I shall come to that anon. Let us, for now, take a brief look at the Nigerian military, having just come out of its Taraba incubus.

    To say that the Nigerian military is stressed is to understate matters. Even if ours were American soldiers with their unending wars, one would not expect less.

    In the past 10 years, men and women of our fighting forces have been called to action, some of them more severally, to fight in defense of Nigeria’s very survival; almost always under very severe strains. Throughout this period, we have witnessed some near mutinies, arising out of  being under-equipped to face a ferocious enemy –  the  rampaging, well-armed, Boko Haram fighters who  are now  allegedly in alliance with international terrorist organisations, an example being the Islamic State in West Africa. Indeed, spouses of these soldiers are known to have protested publicly for the same reasons.

    The soldiers must surely have heard, or read of some top officers, misapplying huge funds appropriated to have them properly, even better, kitted. On top of these was the recent Army Chief of staff rebuke which must have left most of them completely nonplussed.

    Worst, however, was the way the military high command handled the unfortunate killing of three policemen in Taraba some two weeks ago.

    Rather than scapegoat the dead police men, thereby earning all, and every Nigerian soldier public opprobrium, it would have been a lot better if the soldiers were quietly arrested and the matter investigated, rather than try to spin the whole thing out of sync, unashamedly, blaming the victims who they called all kind of names; kidnappers inclusive, even though the military high command knew that the slain policemen were on official duty.

    That was not the first time the military would try to wrongly protect its men where it would have been more responsible to own up, apologise to the nation, and go through laid down processes  which would have culminated in dishing out appropriate disciplinary measures, where necessary.

    The Taraba incident was not the first, nor would it be the last. Indeed, as that was trending, army spokespersons in Lagos were busy denying that soldiers shot, and killed, three persons and wounded six others at the Isheri Day Festival in the Kara Market area of Ogun State.

    While not condoning indiscipline on the part of our soldiers, we all must appreciate that our soldiers are, understandably, under pressure, and the least the military high command can do for them is do everything within their power to minimise the tension under which they operate, whether corporately, or individually. It is no news to Nigerians that the military is awash with bad eggs as the Taraba case has copiously shown and that our level of insecurity would probably not be half as terrible as it currently is, if a substantial number of our security operatives are not working in cahoots with enemies of state, either selling firearms, providing cover for armed robbers and protecting kidnappers so they could live a life of obscene opulence.

    But even this fact should not lead the military high command into wanting to, willy nilly, protect these criminals and ultimately end up opening up all our men and women in uniform , good ones inclusive, to eternal pillory. What they should do is put in place, means of identifying characters and getting them out of the military.

    Unless this is done, there will be no end to these untoward occurrences.

    May the souls of the departed rest in peace.

    El- Zakzaky: THE NEED FOR CAUTION

    Not many Nigerians can claim to know what government and the security agencies know about the activities of El-Zakzaky and his MIN. Let me, however, hasten to say that I have personally watched a video of   the man’s  interview which ran as follows:

    Interviewer: Many people are asking: do you want to destroy Nigeria?

    Zakzaky: I say yes, yes. Yes we will destroy it. Our allegiance is to something bigger. Not to Nigeria at all. We need something bigger to be proud of.

    Must we swear allegiance to Nigeria?

    To hell with Nigeria.

    The security agencies most probably have more damning evidences against El-Zakzaky.

    But na today?

    Born: 5 May 1953,  Ibrahim Yaqoub El Zakzaky, the “outspoken and prominent Shi’a Muslim leader who  heads  Nigeria’s Islamic Movement which he founded  as far back as the late ’70s, while a student at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has a chequered history with the Nigerian security forces. This long and winding history culminated in his, and the wife, being granted permission this past week by a Kaduna High court  to go to India for medical treatment. Addressing journalists outside the court perimeter gate, the lead prosecution counsel, who is the state Director of Public Prosecution, Dari Bayero, said  that the judge was satisfied with the medical certificate tendered by El Zakzaky and has granted him permission to travel to India to seek medical attention. According to Bayero, “the court granted the defendant permission to seek medical attention under the strict supervision of the prosecution (state).

    “The judge, the prosecution lawyer said, was satisfied with the medical reports filed by Mallam (El Zakzaky) that he is, indeed, in dire need of medical attention stressing, however, that it was not a  bail and that  his trial would resume on his return from the trip.

    Given the severity of El-Zakzaky’s medical condition- he is said to be suffering from eight different conditions, it was a rude shock for Nigerians to hear that he was on his way back from India last Thursday. Reasons given by both the Sheik and his group, and the federal government are as far apart as could possibly be.

    Spokespersons of the Sheik who arrived aboard an Ethiopian Airlines by exactly 12noon at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja said that he had earlier cried out over the situation in India, stating that it was worse than what he and his wife experienced in Nigeria. They said he was refused treatment by doctors who examined him here and that the Indian government gave him an ultimatum to return if he would not accept to be treated by the doctors assigned to him.

    Government on its own side said that the man started acting funny on arrival in Dubai and on getting to India wanted to check into a 5-star hotel. Consequently, he was reportedly asked by Indian authorities to accept treatment from doctors assigned to him or leave the country.

    My take on all these is that government should have been guided by what happened to Yusuf and how his supporters metamorphosed into Boko Haram which has tormented Nigeria to no end in the past 10 years. Government, in my view, should have bent over backwards and ensure that he got the treatment he needs given the severity of his condition to which the medical reports he presented to the court attested. As it is, it looks like some of his illnesses are life-threatening and God forbid that his condition gets worse. I cannot see what government would have lost in the circumstance of his remaining in India to be   fully treated and returned to Nigeria, under escort, for his trial to commence.

  • JUST IN: DSS to release El-Zakzaky for treatment abroad

    The Department of State Services (DSS) on Monday said that it will comply with a court order to release the leader of Shiites in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky to travel abroad for medical treatment.

    El-Zakzaky might also travel abroad with his wife for referral treatment on their eyes.

    The statement was signed by the Public Relations Officer of DSS, Dr. Peter Afunanya

    The statement said: “This is to inform the public that the Department of State Services (DSS) has received the order granting Ibrahim EL-ZAKZAKY leave to travel to India for medical treatment.

    “Consequently, the Service is liaising with relevant stakeholders to ensure compliance.

    Read Also: El-Zakzaky: Police warn against procession

    “Conformity with the order is in line with the service’s avowed commitment to the rule of law inherent in a democracy.”

    It was unclear under the security terms if El-Zakzaky will be allowed to travel out.

    A top security source added: “All the conditions set by a High Court in Kaduna will be complied with.

    “The top most condition is that he must return to Nigeria for trial.”

  • El-Zakzaky’s plight worsens as elder brother declares him a terrorist

    Elder brother of Sheikh Ibraheem Yakubu El-Zakzaky, the leader of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shi’ites, Sheikh Muhammad Sani Yakoob, has reacted to the recent proscription of IMN, saying that, it was long overdue.

    El-Zakzaky’s elder brother, who is also the Zaria Branch Chairman of Izalatul Bid’ia wa Ikamatus sunna, told our correspondent in an exclusive interview in Zaria, Kaduna State that the federal government should not stop at proscribing IMN but go further to disband the Shi’ite sect in its entirety.

    He said there is no difference between his younger brother’s IMN, the Shi’ite sect and the dreaded terrorist group Boko Haram, adding that both the leader of the deadly Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, and his younger brother, El-Zakzaky, are terrorists.

    He said the decision taken by the federal government to proscribe the IMN was not only right but overdue because the government can be overthrown through the violent protests of the group.

    Sheikh Yakoob said the IMN leader is responsible for whatever calamity has befallen him, saying that he was warned when he started propagating “his dangerous Shi’ite doctrine.”

    He said: “As you may be aware, El-Zakzaky is my blood brother. We were given birth to by the same father. While growing up, before he started this journey into Shi’ism, I didn’t have any close friend apart from him. We did everything together. We studied together in Islamic school.

    “We warned him seriously to desist when he started this Shi’ism ideology. I personally warned him several times, and when he refused, I had to abandon him. So, whatever the authorities might have done to him, he caused it for himself.”

    Sheikh Yakoob added: “There is nothing good about Shi’ism. These people are supposed to have been proscribed a long time ago, but the government waited until they are now causing havoc.

    “In the entire world, where has the Chief of Army Staff ever been blocked on the way and denied right of passage? Since the time Shi’ites people did that to the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, they were supposed to have been stopped. But now, the authorities seem to have understood their mission.

    “Anywhere the Shi’ites are, they are always a problem. They are the ones that ruined Iraq. They are the ones that ruined Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. All the crises you see in the Middle-East, Shi’ites are responsible for them.

    “You see, with their protests, they çan take over government. The enemies of the country and enemies of the sitting government can take advantage of the Shi’ites protest and overthrow the government.

    “I believe the government now understands this secret. What the government has done is very right.”

    On Tuesday’s declaration by another Shi’ites group that IMN members are fake Shi’ites, El-Zakzaky’s brother described the declaration as hypocritical, saying that all Shi’ites groups have the same doctrine and ideology.

    “They are liars. All Shi’ites are one,” he said.

    “What they are doing is hypocrisy. All of them have the same doctrine and ideology. They are only in Shi’ites leadership tussle with Zakzaky. That is why they are denouncing him publicly.

    “Therefore, it is not only Zakzaky’s group that is supposed to be proscribed. The government should outlaw the entire Shi’ites sect. This is because both Boko Haram and Shi’ites share the same ideology.

    Read Also: El-Zakzaky’s group is fake, says Shi’ites group

    “They can continue to fool other people that they are not armed, but we know they carry arms. Didn’t you see them shown with their arms?

    “They lied that they were not the ones that killed the police officer in Abuja. The Deputy Commissioner of Police that was killed in Abuja was not the first police officer to be killed by the Shi’ites.”

    When asked about the court order that, said his brother should be released and a house built for him anywhere in northern Nigeria, Sheikh Yakubu said, government should only obey such order if it is also ready to build a house for the leader of the dreaded Boko Haram group, Abubakar Shekau.

    He said: “Nobody should blame the government for holding him despite the Abuja court order. Some would say, ehn, court ordered that Zakzaky should be released and a house built for him. If they want the government to build a house for Zakzaky, then the government should also build a house for Shekau.

    “Do Nigerians agree that government should build a house for Shekau? If no, then government should not build a house for Zakzaky, because they are the same. They are all terrorists.”

    He noted that since the exit of El-Zakzaky, Zaria, which was his base, has been very peaceful as security agents have been able to tame their “violent activities.”

    IMN backs El-Zakzaky’s daughter, vows to continue protests

    But in spite an order proscribing it, top members of IMN yesterday aligned with the decision made by the daughter of their detained leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky that the group’s protests will continue until her parents are released.

    The group also disowned the statement issued on Wednesday by its spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, that they had suspended the protests in line with the proscription of the sect by the Federal Government through a court order.

    Suhaila Zakzaky in videos shared on her Facebook page on Thursday questioned the ban and said the protests would continue until her father is released.

    A statement issued by a top member of the IMN, Abdullahi Musa, for Academic Forum, Sisters’ Forum and Abul-Fadl, said other IMN members were not informed about the ban on protests.

    Musa said: “On the 31st day of July, 2019, a press statement titled “We Are Temporarily Suspending Our Street Protests” and signed by Malam Ibrahim Musa, President of the Media Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, went viral.

    “The article was published and aired by numerous media outlets, both local and international.

    “In the statement, it was written that “this was mainly to create openings into the resolution of problems, especially the court case instituted by our lawyers on the proscription order by the federal government this week.”

    It further claimed that “if at all any protests occurred anywhere in the country, it might be this notice hasn’t reached those in the field or this message is misunderstood or it is some security agents who are behind it.

    “First of all, we would like to state for the record that apart from members of the media forum, none of us was informed of this prior to seeing it in the papers and online.

    “Secondly, the media forum of the Islamic Movement is supposed to consist of Press men and thus has no involvement in the organising of our ceremonies, our protests or legal activities among others.

    “Thirdly, no decision of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria has ever been communicated on the pages of a newspaper.

    “Contrary to what the statement may insinuate, it is important to note that the proscription order was not an act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but rather from some Federal High Court in the capital Abuja.

    “Bear in mind that courts do not make laws; the National Assembly does, and there is a process involved.

    “Under the constitution, even the President lacks the legal authority to simply pronounce edicts into law. Nigeria is not an absolute monarchy.

    “Most pre-eminently, the right to protest peacefully is enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. Impunity is not.”

    The IMN disowned Ibrahim Musa as their spokesman, saying: “In the aftermath of the publication of this unfortunately misleading statement, we subsequently tried to investigate the source of this frankly confusing document.

    “We have consulted extensively with fellow followers of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky on this matter.

    “Our only conclusion is that this whole affair was a combination of misinformation, miscommunication, human error and other significant factors.

    “Here in Abuja, we are legally protesting the illegal detention of our leader and his wife.

    “By doing this for our leader, we are also legally protesting against all forms of illegal detention, extrajudicial killings, among numerous other illegal perpetrations of injustice by this current administration.

    “The statement signed by Malam Ibrahim Musa of the media forum does not, in any way, reflect the beliefs and convictions of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.

    “A single representative of a Forum within the Islamic Movement has no authority to single-handedly dictate his opinion on every one of us. Only our leader Sheikh Zakzaky may do that.

    “For this reason, we are compelled to caution the media to never treat, any further, such explicit declarations by any member of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in general, and Ibrahim Musa in particular, without a grain of salt.

    “We wish to also explicitly state that we are fully determined to continue our protests.

    “We shall continue our peaceful protests uninterrupted and unhindered till our leader Sheikh Zakzaky is free, for as long as it takes, regardless of obstacles.

    “Until Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky is Free, our protests will continue.”

  • El-Zakzaky and impunity unlimited

    Sir: The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) attempted  to dispel any particle of doubt about its readiness  to fight  to the finish to get its leader, Ibrahim El Zakzaky, released when the sect declared recently that it was ready to sacrifice 21 million of its followers for the freedom of its leader.

    More worrying is the fact that the southwest coordinator of the sect, Muftau Zakariya, had posited that there would not be a country to rule in 2023 should “they kill” the Shiite leader.

    Now, for poor students of history who do not know how Boko Haram insurgency began, or those who simply pretend to be oblivious of the scale of havoc the terrorists have caused in the last decade, the willingness of the sect to offer 21 million lives in the battle to free its leader may count for nothing.

    But, for a sect that has remained irrepressible after losing hundreds of its members to clashes with security agents, it is hard to shake off the feeling that left to its devices, it would not bring down the house on everyone like the biblical Samson when it is stretched beyond its elastic limit.

    Even if one does not spare a thought for the 21 million lives willing to be sacrificed, one should worry about innocent victims that will consumed by the needless ‘war’ between IMN and security agents.

    Only recently, Precious Owolabi, a Channels Television reporter, was put six feet under by a stray bullet in the course of serving his fatherland as a youth corps member while covering the protest of Shiites in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja. Owolabi had probably fantasised a bright future after serving his fatherland. Of course, he had hopes and aspirations. But death is no respecter of age, beauty, class, hopes and aspirations. When death calls, hopes and aspirations get buried without delay!

    Admittedly, tales abound of the atrocities committed by Shiites. For instances, a former  governor of Kaduna State, Mukhtar Yero, was reportedly made to alight from his car to trek to an associate’s house because he was stopped  by Shiites during one of their processions. There also reports detailing how the members of the sect have become a pain the neck of its neighbours in Kaduna.

    It must  be stated that while the constitution guarantees freedom of movement and association, it must not be at the expense of fellow citizens. Nonetheless, a fire with fire approach to checking the activities of the Shiite sect can only have cataclysmic consequences. Tackling impunity with impunity would also fast track descent into anarchy.

    For a government that has argued  on several occasions that having a dialogue with a terrorist group is not a strange practice, even  in advanced countries in defence of its negotiation with the deadly Boko Haram insurgents, it is expected that it would explore the opportunities of a dialogue for the sake of peace.

    It is noteworthy that on December 2, 2016, Justice  Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court had in addition to the order that El-Zakzaky and his wife be released warned that “ if the applicant dies in custody… it could result in needless deaths. “ For a government that has not demonstrated competence or capacity in tackling the myriad of security problems bedevilling Nigeria, it is impolitic to add to its list of worries.

    Before our eyes, the seed of another brand of insurgency is being sown, when it grows and blossoms, Nigerians will not thank the present government.

     

    • Ladesope Ladelokun,

     ladesopeladelokun@gmail.com 

  • El Zakzaky: Anatomy of an insurgency

    Nigerians must take advantage of history to have a good grasp of issues of national security concerns, such as the escalating threats of insurgency by Ibrahim El-zakzaky-led Shiite group. Unfortunately, for political expediency, the members deliberately distorted it into a human rights issue, taking the ‘protective custody’ of its leader as reason to campaign against the federal government and threaten the security of lives and property.

    The courts’ order freeing Elzakzaky were strictly based on the isolated facts of Elzakzaky’s arrest and detention during the national security operation of December 2015, triggered by the daring blockade and confrontation of the Chief of Army Staff’s convoy in Zaria by his aggressive followers. But the remand of Ibrahim Elzakzaky in protective custody was premised on sober consideration of the grave national security implications of the alarmingly violent antecedents of the Shi’ite group’s escalating trajectory of insurgency, initially only against mainstream Islam, then a calculated challenge to law enforcement agencies and ultimately taking on the nation’s last line of defence, the Nigerian Army.

    Short memories cannot shut out the Elzakzaky Shi’ites’ history of escalating insurgency. It all started when Ibrahim Elzakzaky, after a mind-blowing visit to Iran at the height of the Khomenei revolution, opted out of an Islamic revivalist students group in ABU, Zaria to become the flag-bearer of the Shi’a sect, until then virtually unheard of in Nigeria. By that singular self-fulfilling move, Elzakzaky got sucked into the tumultuous heart of centuries old sectarian antagonism between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims. The international dimension has fuelled several bloody wars and conflicts in the Middle East, reflected today in the unending Syrian war of attrition and the emergence of deadly terrorist militias such as Daesh, Al-Qaeda, and of course, their local affiliate, Boko Haram.

    Since then Elzakzaky has steadily sowed the seeds of isolationism from the mainstream Muslim community by breaking away from the hitherto united Muslim Students Society(MSS) at ABU, Zaria and even from other Shi’a groups not affiliated with Iran’s Khomenei revolution. A sign of how deep the schism had polarized the Muslim community in its northern haven was the outbreak of violent clashes between Sunni and Shi’a as far back as March 11, 2005 as a result of a protest by Shi’a and again in February and May 2006 in the revered Seat of the Caliphate, Sokoto. In August 2007, security forces had to demolish the Sokoto headquarters of the Shia sect, when members were accused of killing a rival Muslim cleric.

    Such clashes necessitate the intervention of security forces, police and military to restore peace, but the Shi’ites soon began clashing with them too. Instructively, the group’s tendency to replicate Shi’a rites, like the Quds Day and Arbaeen processions, not observed by the larger Muslim community, only increased confrontation. The procession in July 2014 in Zaria sparked the group’s first major clash with the army.  A few days after multiple bomb blasts in Kaduna and amid tense military surveillance operations, sect members approaching a military check- point rebuffed soldiers’ orders to take another route, prompting soldiers to fire warning shots into the air to disperse them. The Shi’ites surged forward stubbornly throwing stones at the soldiers. This was the precursor to the bloodier December 2015 incident in Zaria, where the group’s leader lives with hundreds of his followers’, virtually taking over Gyellesu area, to the chagrin of non- Shi’a community.

    In the group’s latest daring confrontational stance to the peace and security of the nation, members attempted an invasion of the National Assembly, leading to abrupt adjournment of sittings and random attacks on security forces and innocent citizens that left several policemen injured. Irate Shi’ites have now gone berserk, attacking innocent people and vandalizing their property, even openly insulting and issuing death threats to the president! This is in addition to the group’s long-standing non-recognition of the sovereign government of Nigeria and an ominous pointer to the direction of the Elzakzaky Shi’ites’ trajectory of terrorist insurgency could be heading if not rapidly and ruthlessly dealt with.

    It is also pertinent to highlight the misnomer commonly applied in describing the Elzakzaky Shi’ites as “unarmed civilians”. In reality, the sect which adopts the callous practice of taking women and children along with them even when confronting security forces as a human shield ploy, has escalated its protests from shouting to actually shooting at the forces, who are restrained by rule of engagement. The Nigerian Army has been detailing the increasing weaponization of Shi’ite protests in recent times to include “shooting stones with catapults, throwing bottle canisters filled with fuel, large stones and lobbing Molotov cocktails”.

    Remarkably, these terrorist trends are similarly squelched by security forces wherever they surface in accordance with “international best practices”. US President Donald Trump rationalized it recently:  “I’ll tell you this, anybody throwing stones and rocks like they did in Mexico and badly-hurt police and soldiers, we’ll consider that a firearm because there’s not much difference. They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. I told them to consider it a rifle.” On the other hand, the Iranian government which backs the Elzakzak Shi’ites in Nigeria, regularly harasses opposition groups like the Mojahedin and the Kurds who resist being forced into exile all over Europe just for holding different opinions and faiths!

    But there is also plenty of well-reasoned Nigerian opposition to the emerging insurgents called Elzakzaky Shi’ites. Comrade Yunusa Yusuf spokesman of Coalition of Abuja Indigenous Association (CAIA), declared: “ We are disturbed by the recent protest by Shi’ites movement to the National Assembly which turned violent and left many residents with various degrees of injuries and destruction of property. We are sad because the Shi’ites group is not the only aggrieved group in this country. We the indigenous people of Abuja are equally aggrieved over so many issues ranging from ministerial slot and deliberate marginalisation of our people, but we conduct ourselves peacefully.”

    Certainly, the rights of all Nigerian citizens to peaceful co-existence and the responsibility of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens are non-negotiable factors of our national sovereignty that cannot be compromised under any circumstance. The Elzakzak Shi’ites recognize the Iranian government but not the Nigerian state, yet they base their aggressive agitation on the verdict of a Nigerian court!

     

    • Sidi is an Islamic scholar based Tudun Wada, Zaria.

  • Group warns US, UK over IMN leader’s refusal to take medication in India 

     

    The Advocates of Social Justice For All (ASJA) has reacted to the refusal of the leader of the outlawed Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, to take his medication in Indian hospital where he was flown to for treatment.

     

    Recall that a Kaduna State court had granted the IMN permission to travel abroad for medication.

     

    However, latest report had it that El-Zakzaky has refused taking medication from doctors in the Indian hospital, insisting that he wants to be treated by those booked to treat him before he and his wife left from Nigeria.

     

    Reacting, however, ASJA said the claim by El-Zakzaky was a ploy to escape route from justice.

     

    The group further called on El-Zakzaky to accept treatment, complete the treatment and return home to face justice

     

    His speech reads below.

     

    Addressing newsmen on Wednesday, Venatius Asogo, President of ASJA advised the government to immediately exploit diplomatic channels, particularly with India and the other countries that he could transit through to arrive in Iran.

     

     

    In keeping with a court ruling allowing the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Mr. Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, seek medical treatment in India, the Federal Government facilitated his travel to the country to commence his treatment.

    Recall that the government of Kaduna state expressed reservations about this trip. The state, among other things, predicted that el-Zakzaky will like flee India to Iran. If the IMN leader ever makes it to this Islamic Republic then we can all be certain that it will result in unmitigated disaster. He will be able to run the terrorist organization from Iran, which has the reputation of being a state sponsor of terrorism.

     

    Nigerians must equally not lose sight of the fact that 186 Shia doctors from Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq  had written a vexatious letter to the Federal Government asking for el-Zakzaky to be flown abroad for multidisciplinary treatment without specifying a destination country. The implication of this letter, even at a time the Indian trip has been finalized, is that they plan to route the IMN leader through any of six countries before ultimately smuggling him into Iran.

     

    With these backgrounds, we are worried about the stories emanating from India since el-Zakzaky and hi wife arrived in that country. Update from the Indian hospital indicated that he has been refusing treatment from doctors while insisting on particular doctors that are apparently part of the 186 Shia doctors that wrote the referenced letter.

     

    He even went as far as creating drama and lying that Nigeria switched his doctors in order to eliminate him. If he was not eliminated for the period he was in custody here in Nigeria he definitely is not worth wasting international efforts upon now that he is in the jurisdiction of another country. We also note, on the strength of his recalcitrance, that the gamut of symptoms that a visiting gang of Iranian doctors diagnosed him with were nothing but a ruse to make him escape Nigeria.

     

    We further observed that the IMN leader was lamenting that he was under heavy security guard at the Indian hospital. This observation on his part is comical because it shows that his expectation of his medical trip was the one of escape from his ongoing trial in Nigeria. We wonder if he seriously thought he would be treated to a five star hotel experience without guards so that he can sneak into Iran.

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    It bears mentioning that not only are the security operatives needed to prevent him from escaping, they are as well a necessity to ensure his fanatical members do not secretly murder him to sour relationship between Nigeria and India while making our dear country appear bad.

     

    A dimension we will like to call attention to is the fact that the IMN leader who claimed to be mortally ill and  under heavy security did not just refuse treatment but also had time to make an audio recording to resume inciting his members even from far away India. If he can commit such inflammatory act while receiving treatment and under guard India we can then imagine what he will do when he finds his way into Iran.

     

    These behaviours on the part of el-Zakzaky, going by these reports emanating from some quarters that he no longer fancies the Indian hospitals, which he desperately sought and for which his followers made all manner of trouble including killing innocent Nigerians, is the height of callousness and wickedness by the IMN leader.

     

    For him to have said he had his own arrangement with certain India doctors, which tallies with the widespread claims that Indian has some of the best doctors in the world, el-Zakzaky should remain there. The only place he is free to leave India for is Nigeria, where his trial will resume once he sets foot in this jurisdiction. His best bet is to allow professional doctors without sectarian sentiments treat him while forsaking the coalition of charlatans that had petitioned President Buhari. El-Zakzaky should accept treatment, complete the treatment and return home to face justice.

     

    We remind IMN and el-Zakzaky that they cannot continue to fool Nigerians with his drama, which is nothing but a decoy to escape justice over the numerous acts of terror that he is being tried for in Nigeria. He must by now know that India, as a committed ally of Nigeria, will not allow him become a fugitive from justice. Authorities of that country will see to it that he gets well in time to return to Nigeria and hear the verdict in the case of treason and other charges against him.

     

    The federal government must take immediate measures to guard against the fast one that suspect is trying to pull on the country. This will include approaching to amend the leave it granted him to travel. To the best of our knowledge, the approval to travel did not include permission to produce, distribute and promote terrorist propaganda. This singular step is necessary to prevent el-Zakzaky from using his treatment in India as a cover to target inciting messages against Nigeria.

     

    We advise that the government immediately exploit diplomatic channels, particularly with India and the other countries that he could transit through to arrive in Iran. The message must be put out there for countries to know not to provide refuge or passage that el-Zakzaky is seeking in order arrive in Iran and from that country send messages to radicalize their youths and instill extreme religious views in the population.

     

    Advocates for Social Justice for All (ASJA) warns countries that are dispose to be tolerant of evil in pursuit of political correctness that making intervention for el-Zakzaky is at the same level with embracing fire to their bosoms. Their countries will eventually be contaminated by the sectarian extremism that the suspect has promoted in his bid to destabilize Nigeria. Specifically, the United States, the United Kingdom and European Union are warned that El-Zakzaky is the leader of a designated terror group in Nigeria. The youths of these nations will pay the price of being radicalized should they make the mistake of packaging the IMN leader as a victim.

     

  • Shi’ites protest at National Assembly for El Zakzaky’s release

    Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) popularly called Shi’ites, on Thursday besieged the National Assembly during a protest for the release of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El Zakzaky.

    The Shi’ites members carried various banners and posters with the pictures of El Zakzaky.

    Their presence led to the closure of the main gate to the National Assembly with a detachment of policemen surrounding the area to prevent the protesters from entering the complex.

    The sect’s spokesman Ibrahim Musa said there was a clear and present danger as the health of El Zakzaky had worsened.

    He said the group was demanding the immediate release of their leader from detention as he had allegedly been poisoned with lead.

    According to him, even if El Zakyzaky was released immediately, there would be need for him to have quick medical intervention to save his life.

    Musa said investigations by experts had revealed that the level of lead in the Muslim scholar’s blood was at a dangerous level.

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    But House Leader Alhassan Ado Doguwa, who met the protesters at the gate, assured them that their message would be relayed to appropriate quarters.

    Doguwa said: “This place, called the National Assembly, provides a window where you come and ventilate your concern and anger. But I assure you, I give you my commitment and the commitment of this institution, that we will address this issue that you raised.

    “And in promising you, I will collect the contacts of your leaders. And by the time I am able to convince my colleagues and superiors, we will get back to you and discuss further. This we will do with immediate alacrity.”

    Doguwa hailed members of the group for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves.

    Recall that El-Zakzaky, has been in detention since December 2015 and has remained in detention since sequel to a clampdown on his members by soldiers.

    He had been charged for alleged conspiracy, abating culpable homicide, among other offences. In spite of a December 2016 order for his release by the court, the government has failed to release him, prompting incessant protests by his members.

  • Court adjourns indefinitely trial of El-Zakzaky, wife

    A Kaduna State High Court on Monday adjourned the trial of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shi’ites, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zinat indefinitely.

    The trial Judge, Justice Gideon Kurada, adjourned the case due to his appointment to serve as a judge in the Presidential and National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal in Yobe.

    The Nation recalled El-Zakzaky and wife, who have been custody since December 2015, were dragged to the state high court for culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, and disruption of public peace, among others.

    Speaking to newsmen shortly after the adjournment, lead counsel to the defendants, Femi Falana SAN said, the case was adjourned because Justice Kurada is serving as a judge in election petition tribunal.

    The Senior Advocate said, aside absence of the trial Judge, Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife Zinat, were in dire need of medical attention, the reason they could not appear in court.

    He alleged that the IMN leader and his wife had not been given adequate medical care since Dec. 14, 2015, when they were detained.

    According to him, “So the Court has adjourned Sine die, meaning indefinitely. My clients are yet to access any form of medical attention even after the court had ordered so.

    “The Case had to be adjourned as both my clients need time to attend to their health.” Falana said.