FRESH trouble could be brewing between the security agencies and the Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) after dozens of the sect's members were gunned down by the police in Kano in a fresh clash.
On December 12, last year, troops attached to chief of army staff Lt General Tukur Buratai's security detail opened fire on members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria Shiite sect in Zaria after they refused to let him pass along a highway to a function. Dozens of the sect's members are believed to have died in the attack and its leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky has since been remanded in custody over the incident.
Since then, the authorities and the IMN have had a very uneasy relationship, irate mobs have been known to have attacked members of the Shiite sect. Most Nigerian Muslims are Sunni and believe that the Shiites do not adhere to the true teachings if Islam, so are seen as outcasts and are scorned by the Islamic majority.
Early this morning, men of the Nigeria Police Force and the IMN clashed in the Tamburawa area, on the outskirts of Kano city, when the police tried to stop a Shiite protest. Over a dozen people including a police officer are feared killed from the violent clash and the security agencies have since deployed heavily armed mobile policemen to the area while the major Kano-Zaria road is completely blocked.
Yesterday, the IMN accused Nigerian soldiers of plotting to prevent its members from heading to Kano from Yobe State while also planting weapons on them. This tension that had been building up over the weekend, finally boiled over this morning.
IMN spokesman Ibrahim Musa, said: “Soldiers mounted a check point at the outskirts of Potiskum, Yobe State, probably to stop members of the IMN from leaving the town to join others in this year’s annual Arbaeen Trek to Zaria, mourning the martyrdom of Imam Husain scheduled to commence from Kano this week. The soldiers detained a trailer carrying the personal belongings of those going to Kano for the trek today.
“Apparently, the soldiers have some sinister motives as they were overheard scheming to plant weapons in the luggage and thereafter claim that these bags with the weapons belong to members of the IMN. Throughout the nearly four decades of the existence of the IMN, it has never stockpiled, carried or used weapons and it never had any cause to, even in the face of provocation."
He said the IMN categorically rejects and disowns any attempts by the security services to plant any fake evidence on its members. It is believed that the situation in Kano is still fluid, although the final death count is not yet known.
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