Sheik el-Zakzaky IMN Shiite
leader
Sheik el-Zakzaky IMN Shiite
leader
IMN Warns NAF over Statement on Sokoto
Killing
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has cautioned the Nigerian Army
to stop using its name to cover up its atrocities. This is coming
at the heels of the killing of innocent civilians in Sokoto by
airmen of the Nigerian Air Force on 20/10/2019.
This was made known to newsmen in a press statement signed by
the President Media Forum of the Islamic Movement, Ibrahim Musa
today.
The Islamic Movement said the NAF killings in Sokoto should be
of concern to everybody because it could happen to anybody. “In as
much as the victims involved are not of the Islamic movement, we
wish to condemn this act of impunity and extra judicial killing
implemented by the military and draw the attention of Nigerians in
particular and the world at large to a dangerous trend they have
introduced whereby uniformed men can kill anybody at will and claim
that they thought he or she was Shi’ite.
Below is the press statement released by the Islamic Movement in
Nigeria:
NAF killings in Sokoto: Stop using our name to cover up your
crimes
Following an incident that took place at Mabera area of Sokoto
town, Sokoto state, where military men of the Nigerian Air force
murdered a mother of seven and a young man for teasing the
girlfriend of an officer and in attempt to cover up for the crime,
the military men claimed they thought their victims were members of
the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, we find it pertinent to dissociate
the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and its members from the misleading
claims of the military men and all forms of crimes whatsoever.
Media reports say eye witnesses said the crisis began when a
lady, said to be the girlfriend of an officer, was teased by young
people in the area which led the lady informing her Nigerian Air
force officer boyfriend of what transpired. The officer was
reportedly said to have deployed a truckload of Air force personnel
to Mabera area who trailed a young aspiring student, Abdulsalam
Lawan, who took refuge in a nearby house, killing him and a
40-year-old mother of seven, Maryam Abdulrahman on 20/10/2019.
It is in attempt to cover this act of irresponsibility and
brutality and sweep it under the carpet, perpetrated by the
Nigerian military that the military informed newsmen that they
thought their victims were members of the Islamic Movement.
In as much as the victims involved are not of the Islamic
movement, we wish to condemn this act of impunity and extra
judicial killing implemented by the military and draw the attention
of Nigerians in particular and the world at large to a dangerous
trend they have introduced whereby uniformed men can kill anybody
at will and claim that they thought he or she was Shi’ite.
We hereby call on members of the public to insist that justice
should not only be done by prosecuting the officers involved but to
also be seen to have been done, even though the Sokoto state
government has intervened. This dangerous act of anarchy and
lawlessness perpetrated by the military must not be condoned.
In the recent past since the Zaria Massacre where the Nigerian
Army killed over 1000 men, women and children and gave a flimsy
excuse for the genocide, on several occasions, they have engaged in
the killing of innocent unarmed members of the Islamic movement and
gave false claims to justify it.
It is now such that the military have erased the empathetic
feeling of humanity from the hearts of some Nigerians such that
they don’t see anything wrong with extra judicial killings
perpetrated by the military and in some cases even join them to
justify it. The killing is now gradually moving beyond the Islamic
Movement and anyone could be killed and labelled Shi’ite to justify
it even as there is no justification whatsoever, whether moral,
religious, legal or civil for the extra judicial killing of members
of the Islamic movement or any other person for that matter. Life
is sacred.
Having stated our stance, we use this opportunity to call for
the release of our revered leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky from
continued illegal detention even with a standard court order for
his release and compensation, and all those detained in undisclosed
detention facilities across the country.
SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM
ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA
SKYPE: Ibrahim.musa42