THE DUBIOUS ATTEMPT TO APPOINT SOLICITORS FOR OUR LEADER AND THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA

The general public and members of the International Community will recall that on the 14th day of December 2015, the Nigerian Military invaded the house of our leader Shaikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and fatally wounded him and his wife, and killed his three children among so many hundreds of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

It will also be recalled that this invasion was sequel to the so called “clash” between the Military and the members of the IMN that resulted in the killing of over 1000 of our members and their being criminally buried in a mass grave between the 12th and 14th December 2015.

As a peaceful organization we demanded for the release of our leader and his wife from detention. This we have continued to demand through all known peaceful and legitimate means. Rather than release our leader, the Department of State Services (DSS) claimed that our leader was being held in “protective custody”.

Subsequently, our leader briefed his solicitors and solicitors of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria led by Femi Falana, SAN; Festus Okoye Esq and Maxwell Kyon Esq to proceed to the Federal High Courts Kaduna and Abuja and enforce their fundamental right to personal liberty, freedom of movement and association.

The Legal Team filed the said cases on the firm instructions of our leader and the Islamic Movement and the cases are pending in Court and the Department of State Services (DSS), the Kaduna State Government and the Nigerian Military have put up appearances in both matters in Kaduna and in Abuja.

Since the filing of the two matters in Court and arising from the withdrawal of our Legal Team from further appearance before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government to investigate the matters, the Department of State Services (DSS) has denied our Legal Team further access to the leader of our Movement despite several repeated requests both orally and in writing.

Unfortunately, on the 29th day of July 2016 or thereabout, and ubsequently, one Bello Ibrahim and one Sadau Garba who claimed to be solicitors to the Islamic Movement and to our revered leader, on the instigation and active connivance of the Department of State Services (DSS) wrote a letter to the Director General of the Department of State Services titled “Appreciation over medical care given to Shaikh Ibraheem Yaqub Zakzaky by DSS and a humble request to release him for the review of the treatment abroad to be taken by his family”

In the said letter, the two solicitors acting at the behest of the Department of State Services claimed that the DSS saved the life of our revered leader by giving him what they called the best medical care. They also claimed that our revered leader is appreciative of his treatment in detention and on the basis of that called on the Department of State Services to allow the families take him out of the country for further medical care.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria wants to make it clear that the said Sadau Garba and one Bello Ibrahim are not solicitors to the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and are not solicitors to our revered leader. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria and our revered leader never briefed them in relation to any issue involving the Movement and our revered leader never briefed them in relation to his detention, the detention of his wife, the trial of over 250 of his followers and the killing of his sons and over 1000 of his followers.

The said Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim who claimed to be Barristers and Solicitors wrote the said letter dated 29th July 2016 to the Department of State Services without the knowledge of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and the Movement only got to know of the said letter and its contents after it was submitted. There are indications that there were subsequent letters written by them to the Department of State Services, and in fact the Movement does not know how many letters they have been instigated to write and never authorized the writing of any of the said letters.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria wants to make it clear that the said Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim can only be solicitors to the Department of State Services, with who they are in constant contact, and not that of the Movement or our revered leader. It is the Department of State Services that briefed the two and are giving them access to their facilities and encouraging them to pose as solicitors to our revered leader and urging them to write letters begging the Department to release our leader on compassionate grounds. On the basis of this dubious alliance the Department has been giving the two unrestricted access and have been sending out dubious feelers that they will release our revered leader to the family the moment they are begged by the two to do so.

We recall that the said Sadau Garba has in the past attempted to swerve the course of the case involving Shaikh’s fundamental rights by claiming that that Shaikh told him that the DSS should be excluded from the matter as one of the respondents in the case which turned out to be contrived by those that briefed him.

We want to make it abundantly clear that:

1. The said Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim are not solicitors to the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and have not been briefed by our leader to represent him in any of the cases pending in court.

2. The said Sadau Garba and Bello Ibrahim are acting a script carefully contrived by those holding our revered leader and their claim to being our solicitors and that of our leader is baffling, erroneous, and mischievous and amounts to professional misconduct.

3. The two solicitors wrote letters to the Department of State Services in utter secrecy and without consultation with the solicitors of the Movement and our revered leader.

4. They two solicitors tricked some few individuals to believe that once they have written the said letters apologizing to the DSS and thanking them for their so called efforts in taking care of our leader, he will be set free.

5. The two solicitors who are no doubt solicitors to the DSS have been used and are still being used by the Department of State Services to further or strengthen the case of DSS that Shaikh is being held in “protective custody” and with his consent.

6. The said dubious letter written by the two solicitors was further meant to show the World that Shaikh “appreciates” his detention by the DSS, thereby humiliating him.

7. The two solicitors have been set up by the enemies of the Movement to give the impression that there is doubt as regards the true solicitors of the Movement and Shaikh and further prolong the detention of our leader.

8. Shaikh did not brief them to write the letters and never approved the writing of the dubious letters.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria therefore makes it abundantly clear that Femi Falana, SAN is the leader of the Legal Team and ably assisted by Festus Okoye Esq and Maxwell Kyon Esq.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria further affirms that anybody or any individual that deals with any other person other than the above mentioned solicitors does so at his or her own detriment.

We demand that our Leader and the wife must be released unconditionally without delay. It will be a tragedy of monumental proportions should our leader go blind in detention or suffer further physical disability due to him being denied access to adequate medical attention. We understand those that sanctioned his detention and those detaining him want to humiliate him and make sure that he goes completely blind before he is eventually released thereby rendering him powerless the moment he is released from unconstitutional and illegal detention.

The health of our leader and the wife continues to deteriorate on a daily basis and those holding him in custody are playing politics with his detention and that of his wife.

We urge the Nigerian people and the international community to intervene in this crude violation of the fundamental rights of our leader. The Nigerian constitution and laws do not sanction detention without trial. We still insist that our leader should be taken to court if those holding him believe that he has committed any offence known to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, otherwise he must be released forthwith.

Ibrahim Musa

PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN

0805 078 6093

31/08/16

UNLAWFUL DETENTION OF EL-ZAKZAKY: THE MANY ERRORS OF PUNCH EDITORIAL

On Friday, 26 August 2016, the Punch newspaper carried an editorial titled: Unlawful detention of el-Zakzaky. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria really appreciate the effort put in by the newspaper, in at least voicing its concern over the Zaria massacre of 12-14 December, 2015, and also calling for the prosecution of the military personnel involved in that gruesome killings.

However, the editorial contained so many errors and inaccuracies, that we feel obliged to correct these factual misrepresentations that were severally and deeply embedded in the editorial. Setting the records straight we believe will leave an accurate legacy for posterity. 
The Punch got it wrong right from the start in the sequence of the events that happened on those tragic days when it says “El-Zakzaky’s heart-rending ordeal started when members of the IMN, who were on an annual procession, blocked the convoy of Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff, in Zaria, Kaduna State. In the ensuing tempest, Army personnel descended on members of the sect, killing many of them on the spot and at their headquarters in a three-day outrage. The tragedy was exacerbated by the belligerence of the IMN members.”

Members of the IMN were not on any procession on Saturday 12-12-15. A flag hoisting event was scheduled to take place in the evening, which never did because the Nigerian army started the killing spree from about midday that day, long before the purported arrival of the COAS. There wasn’t any road blockage. A look at video tapes of similar flag hoisting events in previous years will prove that IMN doesn’t block the road for these events. The road blockage theory was used by the Army and its co-conspirators as an alibi to justify initiating the brutal attack in the first place. The drama the army staged in front of Hussainiyyah using its own actors and filming same was part of the make-believe for the massacre and wanton destruction. 

Had Punch bothered to look closely, it would not have failed to realise that there wasn’t any tempest after all. The Army simply opened fire on early arrivals at a venue of an event and proceeded to lay a siege until it killed those in the centre and destroyed the later. Many hours after that, the Army reinforced and went to Shaikh Zakzaky’s residence, located some five kilometres away from the Centre and massively killed civilians using the most unconventional weaponry in their armoury. They killed close to a thousand citizens over a period of thirty-six hours, torched buildings, evacuated corpses and buried them in mass graves at night about a hundred kilometres away, then denied they killed or dug any shallow grave. It was also in the process that Shaikh Ibrahim Zakzaky witnessed the blatant murder of his three children and elder sister among the hundreds killed. His wife and himself were fatally shot and humiliatingly ferried to incommunicado detention without charges for nine months now, and counting. Hundreds of IMN members including women and children two years and below were taken to court and charged with culpable homicide. Who then was belligerent? Certainly not the members of the IMN as the Punch editorial claimed. 

That the Punch editorial team did not make a thorough background check of facts about us came to the fore when it stated “wives” and attributed them to Sheikh Zakzaky, when in reality our leader has only one wife.

We totally disagree with the Punch where it stated, “The blame for this horrible calamity lies with both the IMN and the government. Since the late 1970s when el-Zakzaky founded the sect, it has imperiled the socio-economic life of Zaria residents with its aggressive brand of Islam. Armed with weapons, its members regularly block major highways during its Quds and Ashura processions. They also reportedly openly brandish weapons. This is imprudent.” This is completely false and baseless. We are at loss as to where the Punch got its information from. This can only be from our enemies and detractors who want to justify the unjustifiable by all means. 

We have stated it categorically severally in the past that the Islamic Movement in Nigeria is not a ‘sect’ in any sense of the word. We are Muslims no doubt. Again, we are not practising a different type of Islam which the Punch finds it convenient to call ‘aggressive brand’. We don’t know that “aggressive” Islam the paper is talking about. It is on record that IMN members are the most tolerant group of people when you consider inter-faith or intra-faith relationships in this country. IMN members give protection to Christians even in their places of worship. Shaikh Zakzaky’s house was a “safe heaven” during tribal or religious upheavals in the past, including the post-election riots of 2011. It is widely known that you will never ever see IMN or its members involved in the spates of these tribal or religious wars plaguing the country. Thus, what aggression is Punch talking about? If the editorial team of Punch knows any community so brutally massacred and denied justice that continue to seek redress peacefully and patiently through the legal framework as we have doggedly pursued, they should let the world know.

The claim contained in the editorial that we ‘openly brandish weapons’ during our peaceful protest is mischievous. Even the Kangaroo commission of Inquiry set up by KDSG has stated that the widely held belief that we possess weapons was not substantiated. If the editorial team of Punch is in possession of any evidence that we brandish weapons openly in our processions, they should show it. Otherwise, they should do themselves good to limit their editorials to facts and not malicious allegation that the intent of its peddlers is pure mischief. 

The Punch editorial also said, “El-Zakzaky’s case therefore presents an opportunity for the government to prosecute him and others in his shoes.” Is the Punch saying that the assailants, who is the government in this case should prosecute the victims, Shaikh Zakzaky and members of the IMN? The Punch has got it all mixed up. We believe people of conscience will not view this as the proper way for the government to write the wrong done to the IMN, Nigerians and the world in general. 

We nevertheless agree with the Punch when it said in several places in the editorial, “His incarceration without trial is unlawful. It is an aberration that a democratic environment like ours abhors. Aso Rock’s weird silence over the past eight months on a simple matter of the rule of law is a sign of the insufferable arrogance of public office holders in our clime. This atrocity should have moved Buhari to instant action. But, in spite of the domestic and international outcry, the President has been silent. This falls short of expectation from a corrective government. The military officers who took the law into their own hands in the IMN incident should not be spared.”

SIGNED BY



IBRAHIM MUSA

PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN

0805 078 6093

29/08/16

IMN mass protest in Kaduna, say Sheikh Zakzaky needs a Doctor

By Abdulmumin Giwa

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) have taken to the streets again in a massive protest calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky currently in detention with DSS despite his deteriorating health condition.

Addressing pressmen at the close of the protest, a leading cleric of the Movement Sheikh Abdulhamid Bello condemned the continued detention of the leader of the Movement as illegal and a violation of his fundamental human rights.

The cleric added that the IMN will not compromise its call for the release of its leader, describing the massive protest as just the beginning.

He called on people of conscience to continue to raise their voices against impunity and disregard to law an order perpetrated by the Nigerian government where the President can simply order the killing, arrest and detention of anyone he despises for his own personal reason.

He said the detention of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky by the Nigerian government and also denying him the right to medical attention despite his deteriorating health condition is an outright violation of the tenets of democracy and civility and must be condemned by all right-thinking persons.

Members of the IMN, men, women and children stormed the Kaduna metropolis in their thousands carrying placards, posters and banners calling for the release of their revered leader chanting Free Our Leader! Free Sheikh Zakzaky! A very prominent banner carried the inscription “Zakzaky Needs a Doctor”.

It would be recalled that the Kaduna state government had set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry (JCI) to investigate the wanton killings of the IMN members by the Nigerian Army in December 2015 the report of which has since been submitted to Kaduna state Governor Nasir El-rufai and recently made public.

The IMN had since condemned the report as being inconsistent with the recommendations made suggesting that the recommendations were prepared even before the inquiry was concluded.

Following pressure from rights groups and people of conscience on the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s deliberate silence on the Zaria massacre the presidency was forced to react swiftly absolving the president from the continued detention of the leader of the Movement.

The IMN dismissed the claim saying its revered leader is being detained by the presidency out of impunity and denied health care as well.

Meanwhile the IMN says over a thousand of its members were killed by the Army during the attack while the JCI confirmed that 347 have been buried by the Kaduna state government and the Army in a mass grave in contravention of religious laws, state laws and the Geneva Convention. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai claims that he killed only seven.

PRESS STATEMENT: SOLDIERS THIRSTY OF IMN MEMBERS’ BLOOD IN POTISKUM

PRESS STATEMENT

SOLDIERS THIRSTY OF IMN MEMBERS’ BLOOD IN POTISKUM
Today, 21/08/16, a contingent of military personnel in at least five trucks with armored vehicles encircled the Islamic Centre of the Islamic Movement in Potiskum, Yobe state. After a few hours of the siege, they left without any incident. However, concerned residents in the neighborhood are apprehensive of what might happened in the night.

Confirmed reports have it that for the past ten days soldiers have been reinforcing and patrolling the town chanting war songs. Fear of possible attack last Friday during and after Juma’at prayers made people to run in all directions for their lives.

Earlier, warnings were made in various mosques by local and  traditional leaders in Fika Emirate of an “imminent war” by army in Potiskum. In the same vein, the Yobe State Commissioner for religious affairs, Alh. Mala Musti has been going to Local government headquarters in the state making hate campaign speeches against Shia Islamic faith and the Islamic Movement, saying that they are unbelievers whose lives and properties must be destroyed.

It seems certain therefore that the state government and the traditional authorities in Potiskum have joined forces with the Federal government to spill blood of innocent civilians under the pretence of fighting “war” on what they mislabeled “religious extremism”.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) will like to draw the attention of all peace loving citizens in particular and the world in general to yet another impending massacre by the Nigerian army in the same way it did in Zaria in December, 2015 killing over  a thousand lives extrajudicially. We believe that the government is employing state apparatus to spill the blood of innocent citizens of this country unjustifiably.

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and Yobe state in particular are no different from those found all over the federation and who are known to be peace loving citizens living an exemplary life.

This step is clearly a contradiction of what the presidency recently claimed that it is a government that is mindful of human rights of its citizens. In the contrary, it has sent its Military to kill innocent people without recourse to the rule of law. The Federal government would be held responsible for the life of any citizen killed unjustly by any of its agency or agents.

SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN
0805 078 6093
21/08/16

Sheikh Zakzaky: World leading humanitarian that paid the ultimate price for humanity

By Abdulmumin Giwa

19th of August every year is set aside to commemorate the International Humanitarian Day by the United Nations. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon described the day as “an annual reminder of the need to act to alleviate the suffering. It is also an occasion to honor the humanitarian workers and volunteer toiling on the frontlines of crises.”

I commemorate this day with a spirit of respect honor to the most deserving leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN)Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky who had paid the ultimate price in all aspects of life for being the greatest humanitarian ever in Nigeria.

In his humanitarian gesture, the revered leader of the IMN had paid the price for his dedication to fairness and justice to humanity standing for it at all cost.

It would be remembered how he provided humanitarian services and saved the lives of hundreds of innocent non-Muslims/indigenes in Zaria in 2011. This was at the risk of everything he had. The Buhari CPC political party lost in the Nigerian general elections of 2011 and his ardent supporters went on rampage killing non-Muslims/indigenes, destroying and also looting their property in many places in northern Nigeria, Zaria inclusive.

Those that were faced with the Buhari’s CPC killings after the 2011 general elections including Igbos resident in Zaria and students of tertiary institutions close to the Gyallesu residence of Sheikh Zakzaky in Zaria including Federal College of Education and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria took refuge at the residence of the Sheikh Zakzaky for safety and protection being the only island in the sea of deadly political killings by CPC members.

They were saved and protected from the CPC political thugs and would always live to remember him for providing them with a protection that saved them from those wild Buhari supporters in 2011. In fact they paid him an appreciation visit for helping them remain alive.

The revered leader of the Movement has also saved several lives by volunteering the services of his ISMA medical initiative to the main Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital ABUTH in Shika near Zaria whenever health workers go on strike due to poor conditions of service by the Nigerian government.

Patients and sick people in the ABUTH received free medical attention and medication for the entire period of the crises from the medical workers of Sheikh Zakzaky.

The services of the Sheikh’s medical initiative extend to the general public and the needy in various communities as well where affected persons are treated free-of-charge.

Within his residential area, his ambulance is readily available to the needy in case of any emergency at any hour of the day.

This is aside from other community activities embarked upon by his followers in various communities in Nigeria. They have provided boreholes, constructed drainages and cleared places of undue refuse in various communities. This is not mentioning the free lessons to students sitting for examinations and community-based first aid training and awareness as well as scholarship to the less privileged poor neglected by Nigerian government.

More so, as part of his humanitarian services, the revered leader of the IMN had received letters of appreciation consecutively for three years from the National Blood Transfusion Service NBTS. This is as a result of his commitment to saving the lives of those needy of blood to survive.

He instructed his followers everywhere across the country to donate blood to save lives. While the NBTS is busy looking for people to help donate blood and are hardly receiving responses, the followers of Sheikh Zakzaky under his guidance invite the NBTS to collect blood consecutively for 10 days every year from as many of his followers as possible. This is done every year during the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Husain AS where donating blood for humanity was part of the 10-days annual event.

One could imagine how many lives he had saved providing thousands of pints of blood to humanity. Such blood might have even been used on some of those soldiers that killed his six children.

Due to government irresponsibility, a lot of people are forced to be living in abject poverty and hunger and things are even getting worse with the advent of the Byuhari regime today in which millions of people hardly feed two times daily. They are surviving far below the UN estimated poverty level without any positive response from the government. As part of his annual humanitarian gesture the leader of IMN had fed hundreds of such needy people every month of Ramadan in Zaria.

Even during the recently concluded Ramadan those needy people were remembered by him even as he is under illegal abduction by the Buhari regime. He fed them as usual but the Nigerian government paid thugs to go and seize the food from the beneficiaries lest they have any pity or support for him. That was how the government-sponsored thugs went on rampage seizing food items from the needy and littering the streets with it leaving the people hungry.

The revered leader of the IMN had also saved neglected youth from delinquencies founded by government irresponsibility. Due to lack of employments and life opportunities a lot of youth have engaged in drug related crimes like becoming  community thugs most of whom are employed by the politicians to serve their personal greed. The IMN leader saved many of such youth through his enlightenment and positive mobilization programs. He gave meaning to their lives and were saved from the exploits of wicked politicians the like of whom that went on rampage killing innocent citizens on ethno-religious basis any time they lose elections.

Sheikh Zakzaky speaks against the rampant violation of citizens’ rights by the authorities and their security agencies who use impunity to kill people extra-judicially at will.

The revered leader of IMN had always called for togetherness and oneness of purpose among Nigerians as against individualism and greed perpetrated and encouraged by Nigerian leaders.

The respected Sheikh is a major anti-graft advocate that has always spoken against corruption and discouraged his followers from it. No wonder none of his followers is mentioned anywhere corruption is identified unlike the CAN leader and the Wahhabis that received over N500 million each to pray for government.

It is his non-compromising stance against corruption that has made the present regime envious that they despise him lest e exposes their selective fight against corruption. They know the Sheikh is bold enough to speak against the use of impunity in the name of fighting corruption.

Hence they see him as an enemy because of the way he is enlightening humanity towards developmental progress, freedom from exploitation and emancipation from imperialism and neocolonialism. The Nigerian government and leaders on the other hand advocate and practice subjugation and suppression through outright submission to the tenets of global imperialism.

Indeed Sheikh Zakzaky is the big heart that withstood the test of time and is the only clear hope for Nigeria today.

More so, it is on record that the revered leader of the IMN is the pioneer of peace promotion and harmonious coexistence amongst the diverse northern divides. For this he had even received award from the Kaduna state government when Colonel Sarki Mukhtar was Governor.

The Sheikh’s famous Unity Week is meant for uniting the warring sectarian Islamic extremists groups calling on them to live with those things that unite them and discard those things on which they differ through mutual understanding and respect.

These qualities of his have attracted not only the Muslims but also the Christians who see an exemplary Muslim in him. A Muslim that gives them shelter and protection, whose followers join them in celebrating Christmas and also invite them to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad with them. They see future and hope for Nigeria in a scholar that truly believes in and practices unity in diversity. This has earned him recognition and respect from various Christian and Muslim communities alike.

He is that humanitarian that speaks against the inhumanity labeled against the Palestinians by the Israelis. He condemns the suppression of Palestinians by the illegal state of Israel and calls for the emancipation of the Palestinians even as he is thousands of miles away from them.

It is even as a result of this that three of his undergraduate sons were abducted and tortured to death by the Nigerian Army along with 31 other followers of his.

Despite his large followership and loyalty he enjoys he called on his followers to remain calm and resolute and never to allow themselves be used as agents of bloodshed and this has saved even the country which no one would explain what would have been of Nigeria today if he acted otherwise.

This is a true humanitarian that identifies with the Palestinian course where women and children are mercilessly butchered by the illegal Israeli regime and their residences demolished in the occupied lands.

His humanitarian virtues remain uncountable that he spoke out clearly to make Nigerians understand that Boko Haram was and is still a government ploy.  He calls on Nigerians not to give in to the plans of the imperialists who want to recolonize Nigeria and steal its resources by using stooges called leaders to create fear and tension among the people.

Sheikh Zakzaky no doubt remains the only remaining hope for Nigerians today after the practical failure of the current regime and the agents of imperialism and neocolonialism see him as a threat to them and so they used the state owned machinery to launch genocide on him and his followers.

They did all they could to kill him after killing over 1000 of his followers and injuring thousands. They killed three more of his children again making a total of six children killed within 18 months for his crime of being a humanitarian.

He still remains steadfast and committed to humanity as ever even as the imperialist government of Nigeria under Buhari is keeping him under illegal abduction and also denying him medical care in total contravention of the Nigerian constitution and yet the corrupt  and wicked-minded people of impunity claim to be fighting corruption.

His message after the Zaria massacre is that of love for humanity asking his followers never to allow themselves to be used as tools of destabilizing the country and making it ungovernable to clear the space for the imperialists to come and steal resources to build their countries.

Against the expectations of the perpetrators of the Zaria massacre of December 2015, Sheikh Zakzaky called on his followers to seek redress through peaceful means and avoid falling into the trap of the imperialists and their agents.

He is hated by the imperialist because they see in him a bright future for Nigerians and must join hands with the unpatriotic and wicked Nigerian leaders to paint him black and extinguish his fast growing light from the heart of Nigerians lest they lose a country where they can fetch natural resources at will.

In return for power the wicked Nigerian leaders submit to the gods of global imperialism and would do anything to ensure they nurture the defeatist mentality of their people and disallow them becoming truly free and independent including killing over 1000 IMN members.

Definitely the best of humanitarians in this age is Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky who has paid the ultimate price for humanity.

 

 

Zaria Massacre: Human Rights Organizations award Sheikh Zakzaky

By Abdulmumin Giwa

The Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs) comprising of 12 human and civil rights organizations in the Southeast have adopted Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, the revered leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) with Prisoner-Of-Conscience POS prestigious award whether dead or alive.

The coalition of Human Rights organizations named the leader of the movement on account of his long detention without trial and no traces of individual or group violence linked to his name against government and people of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

This is contained in a statement signed by the leader of the Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations Emeka Umeagbalasi titled “The Collusion of Nigerian Print, Broadcast Media With Buhari’s Genocidal Regime”

The award which is based on the United Nations principles of non-violence and pacifism is also renewable as long as fair trial and fair hearing is not given to him and also revocable if there is any evidence he has advocated for or resorted to violence of widespread or group nature.

The battered and lacerated revered leader of the IMN, the group observed, had been detained by President Muhammadu Buhari dead or alive for over 240 days or 8 months without trial and public appearance.

The group also observed the violation of the rights of Sheikh Zakzaky by the Buhari regime by violating the process of trial as determined by the rules of justice that entails a proceeding preceding issuance of judicial notice about intended legal claims and accompanying evidence through formal judicial examination.

The activists also submitted that where such legal processes are violated through non-observance of the mentioned fundamentals of justice it simply becomes trial-by-ordeal or jungle-justice.

SBCHROs also lamented the collusion of the Nigerian print and broadcast media with what they described as Buhari’s genocidal regime.

The group also renewed the POS for Citizen Nnamdi Kanu the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra IPOB for being in detention for 300 days or 10 months without trial.

It would be recalled that the leader of the IMN was abducted by the Nigerian Army claiming that his followers blocked the convoy of the COAS in December last year after they fatally shot him and his wife severally, killed three of his sons, and over 1000 of his followers of which they buried 347 in a mass grave in Kaduna to hide the crime.

 

*Between observing the rule of law and being an imperialist proxy*

*Between observing the rule of law and being an imperialist proxy*_By Dauda Nalado, PhD_

It is believed that two thirds of World resources abound in Africa. As colonization became old fashioned, the New World Order has adopted false flag terror in the name of Islam as a form of neo colonization to grab and control resources.

Thanks to the extremist Wahhabi doctrine which the imperial powers find handy and created Alqaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram & Co. In Nigeria the highly resourceful areas (Lake Chad Basin, Borno trough and the Zamfara plains) which are rich in oil, gold, platinum, diamond and Uranium, are targeted. The CIA- MOSSAD hub, in collaboration with other imperial security outfits, facilitates the clandestine operations. They had earlier hinted categorically on what they called revolutionary trends in Africa to assert Iranian influence. They have specifically mentioned the name of Ibraheem El Zakzaky of Nigeria.

One therefore easily finds the link between the Zaria carnage in December last year with the global merchants of terror. The trio of imperialists, Zionists and Wahhabi extremists were at play. The Nigerian Army was only a stooge at the disposal of this evil axis. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, under the leadership of Sheikh El Zakzaky has established stark facts that the Zaria Massacre of its members was pre meditated, well planned and executed. The issue of “clash” or “road blockage” as many citizens were deceived to believe, was only used as a pretext. The Nigerian State security operative, subservient to that evil hub, has been attacking El Zakzaky since the 80’s: Buhari military Junta detained him without trial in 1984/85. Abacha cracked down on IMN, killed scores of members and jailed him 1996-98. Umar Yar’adua ordered his Gyallesu house to be bombed in 2009, not minding any consequences. Allah saved him.

Ebele Jonathan attacked the Movement in July 2014. Soldiers murdered 34 IMN members, including 3 of Zakzaky.s biological sons. From 12th-14th December, 2015 the worst oppression in recent history was perpetrated by the Buhari so called democratic administration. The Army, within 48 hours, killed an estimated 1000+ IMN members. Call them any name but they are human beings and Nigerian citizens.. The list includes the aged, armless men, students, women and children. Some injured were burnt to death. Corpses were dumped in a single mass grave as attested by Kaduna State government that they mass buried 347 corpses. A lot hundreds are up to now “missing”. From all standards, the pogrom was a gross violation of fundamental human right and indeed a gruesome crime against humanity as attested by Amnesty International and the Islamic Human Rights Commission. The recent submission by the partial and dependent Kaduna Judicial Commission of Inquiry has affirmed the earlier stance of the IMN that it was formed to indict but not to inquire. They deliberately shielded the principal culprits: COAS, C-in-C and Kaduna Governor and decided to make GOC 1 Div the sacrificial lamb. They battered their professional integrity to the extent of proffering recommendations that clash with fundamental constitutional provisions.

The imperialists, through their local surrogates, had intended to eliminate the only obstacle in their hegemonic quest, El-Zakzaky and then disband the IMN through Muhammad-Yusuf-style carnage. They had calculated that the merciless brutality would certainly provoke the IMN into taking up arms. This they could then use to unleash false flag terror in the North West axis under the guise of Shi’ah vengeance. Thus their dream of disintegrating Nigeria in order to control its vast resources would materialize. After killing everybody at sight including his three (additional) children, shooting his wife several times, well armed soldiers together with professional snipers gathered around this single armless, pure, innocent soul and unleashed all their killer bullets at close range but he survived by the will of His Creator. The grand design failed woefully right from the onset. Allah showed them that life and death are in His Divine control. El-Zakzaky uses wisdom, knowledge, intellect, true teachings of Islam and reliance on Allah. He does not engage in hate preaching nor dine with tyrants. This is the secret of his ever increasing followership and prosperity of the IMN which many are either oblivious or jealous of.

For eight months now, this victim of the century is still incarcerated at the hands of the DSS without even a framed up charge. They made a fool of the citizenry by claiming that he is in their “protective custody” as if they were not party to his illegal and cruel abduction. Who really benefits from his continued unconstitutional detention? Certainly, it is not Nigerians who are now looking for the fitness to survive. The present administration is brought about through the rule of Law. Why are they turning deaf ears to the yearnings of Nigerians? Millions of citizens constantly protest peacefully for the release of El-Zakzaky. He is in dire need of medical attention. Therefore his right to medical care of his choice should be given with immediate effect. Oh Strong, most Powerful Allah, cometh to the rescue of Your oppressed servant! Flagrant disregard to the rule of law only confirms the assertion that the country is ruled by proxy. The Masters are there in Tel aviv, Washington and Downing Street. They want to keep us in perpetual slavery engaging us with pseudo insecurity while usurping our wealth. Allah is on our side.

Audi Alteram Partem and Nemo Judex In Sua Causa

By Abdulmumin Giwa

In a swift reaction while responding to newsmen seeking clarification from the presidency as to whether President Muhammadu Buhari was the one holding the revered leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria IMN, His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky in detention, the Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu dismissed the claim as lacking commonsense.

This led to a statement by the IMN through the office of the President of the Media Forum of the Movement Ibrahim Musa enumerating the role of the president in the entire incident that led to the mass murder of over 1000 unarmed members of IMN on 12^th to 14^th of December 2015.

The statement called on the Presidential spokesman to have a rethink and a check of reality. It also added that denial of any presidential role in the massacre does no good to the presidency.

For if the president truly had no hand in it he would not have for the last nine months failed to take any action against those who violated the constitution of Nigeria with impunity and also usurped his constitutional powers.

The statement in addition also debunked the claims of Shehu that the matter was an entirely Kaduna state matter for which pointing any accusing fingers on the president does not tally with commonsense. The statement said the President had since given himself away when he declared to the nation during his maiden media chart that the reason why they clampdown on the IMN was that it was running a state within a state and that he saw a video of IMN members beating the chest of an Army General all in order to convince the nation on why he ordered the attack.

Hence for the presidential spokesman to turn around today and exonerate the president on what he had publicly committed himself on says a lot about how guilty he really is.

The deliberate silence on the matter by the President, the deaf ears he turned on calls for the release of Sheikh Zakzaky from illegal detention by individuals and human rights groups from both home and abroad, the illegal detention without trial of the IMN leader and his wife who are kept incommunicado by the government, exoneration of the army in the matter even after mischievously calling the matter a clash instead of an attack, the attempt at hiding the killings by both the government and the Army through mass burying those murdered and claiming they killed only seven, the charging to court of about 200 IMN members with cropped-up charges including killing one soldier while the soldiers that killed and mass buried 347 are left free and many more has rendered the response of the presidential spokesperson parallel to commonsense as against what he claimed.

It is in response to these facts raised by the IMN that the presidency had no choice but to look for a way to manage itself out of the embarrassment and promote its already tarnished human right image hence the recent statement by the presidency on the matter.

Following pressure from concerned quarters, the president is now forced to respond by assuring human rights groups of appropriate response as made public by the Presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu in a recent statement made available to public.

The statement claimed that the president’s commitment to human rights remains unchanged and that he is studying the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry JCI set up by the Kaduna state government to make appropriate response.

It is clear that the presidency is being forced to respond not because it is interested in doing justice to the matter but because it is losing every bit of its human rights image everyday by the continued detention of the leader of the IMN and his deliberate denial of right to good health.

The detention of the IMN leader Sheikh Zakzaky is in contravention of the Nigerian constitution and therefore illegal but the presidency still chooses to be silent about it despite the calls by people and groups of conscience across the globe. Yet deceptively the presidency is claiming to be protecting human rights as a cardinal of democracy.

The first step to prove that the presidency has any regards for human rights is for the IMN leader to be released unconditionally on health grounds. If not, what human rights does the government respect when it can detain a sick person and his wife without any charges for nine months in total contravention of the constitution and had remained deaf to calls by individuals and human rights groups across the globe calling for his release? Who is deceiving who?

More so, the IMN was forced to stay away from the JCI by the government during the inquiry, when it refused to hear from those arrested and detained as well as the prime victim of the massacre Sheikh ibraheem Zakzaky who was kept incommunicado and his lawyers refused access to him.

The same JCI went on with its one-sided inquiry into the massacre and was forced by events to call the incident a massacre, to indict the Army, to reveal the mass grave and also to turn the GOC 1 Division of the Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade into a sacrificial lamb. At the same time the JCI over-looked the roles of the President, the Chief of Army Staff and the Kaduna state Governor in the massacre.

Finally the JCI produced a report that contradicted its recommendations and unfairly and unjustly indicted innocent persons of unsubstantiated accusations including the leader of the IMN who they  accused of not stopping is followers from blocking the COAS entourage, claiming that he was responsible for the deaths of all those killed by the Army in 48 hours. What manner of justice.

It is this same report produced by a judicial commission of inquiry in which all parties to the incident being inquired are represented except the direct victims and independent human rights organizations that the presidency now wants to study to make its statement after 9 months.

Well, it suffices to refer the Presidency to in the language of legal practitioners as regard the principle of natural justice that “Audi Altarem Partem” that nobody should be tried unheard as done to Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and “Nemo Judex In Sua Causa” that nobody should be a judge in their own case or objectivity and neutrality of a trial judge as the government is now doing.

Hence, the presidential spokesman should note that the world is watching and whatever decisions the presidency takes today concerning the Zaria massacre will most definitely reflect tomorrow in what explanations they will give to the ICC in The Hague.

What is even more is the answers they prepare to present before the Almighty Allah in the hereafter as their reasons for massacring innocent unarmed women, both pregnant and young girls, men, the aged and children in Zaria in December 2015. Certainly on that day there would be no spokesman, no JCI, no government sponsored clerics, no APC, no President, no COAS, no Governor and everyone would account for his own individual role at every step and every level of everything that concerns the massacre.

Meanwhile, the IMN shall continue with its quest for justice as ever before through peaceful means hoping that the same impunity with which its leader is fellow members are being held would not prevail over the decisions of the judges in the cases between it and all the parties concerned.

 

 

Shi’ites: Humans, Nigerians or what?

Shi’ites: Humans, Nigerians or what?By Ralph Egbu
— 14th August 2016

Nigeria is a puzzle. Our processes, operations and other things that happen here are simply incomprehensible. It is not that we are not human beings or we do not have the benefit of history, I can attest that we are humans and though the study of history has been prohibited, a lot of us still know about history and more importantly the lessons they have to teach about building a decent society in which life really thrives. What baffles me is why in spite of these lessons, things that are inconsequential continue to be of significance to us especially in the leadership and political sphere. Let me take one example, budget padding, to illustrate what I mean. Some say it is a mess, some say the nation is about to collapse, others say it is about who, between the Legislature and the Executive, has the right to initiate programs. The more mischievous ones say they have caught armed robbers; they have been at this while the real task of substituting poverty for abundance remains neglected. In places where leaders are products of great scholarship and where the issue of transforming society and lives are taken seriously, so-called padding is a simple matter. What they would do is to find out what was wrongly added, note it, and refuse to fund it. By so doing, we exorcise it like we do with evil spirit without causing harm to the physical body. But because we must fight dirty political conflicts, what is not an issue has become a serious matter, capable of consuming the All Progressives Congress as a strong political platform and the security pillars of this nation.
This malady is not restricted to the political horizon, for instance the media to which I belong, has made it the norm to give the widest publicity to men and events that either have capacity to decimate and degrade us or prolong our quest to establish that society in which we all and generations to come can live in bigger and better comfort. Boko Haram we all know is a threat not just to us but to the entire humanity, but the barbarians would cough and we find it good enough to make it headlines in both our broadcast and print media, yet somebody will tell me that bad news is what makes news. This is what the western world has taught us and we reflect same in our curriculum, consequently washing our dirty linens in public. We de-robe ourselves of respect and still want to have it or have the world give us honour, a clear case of eating our cake and still desiring to have it back. It doesn’t add up. Even last week, a small unit like the American Embassy in Nigeria issued a so-called travel guide listing about 22 states out of 36 we have as unsafe destinations and our media celebrated this in their front pages, not knowing that they further dehumanize the entire population and portray us as less than humans incapable of sound organisation. The point I am trying to make is that since independence we have by our own actions continued to erode our human rights and to have a system that confers no respect on us on every aspect; the army and police for instance, should ordinarily be institutions full of empathy and compassion for the citizens, but that’s not what we get. Little altercation between any member of the armed forces and the citizens, results in severe brutalization of the latter. I have witnessed instances of mere traffic offences and in place of correctional instructions, our armed personnel order down the drivers and occupants of a vehicle, flog and make them do frog-jump in dirty, muddy water on our streets and highways. I don’t have space to enumerate what citizens go through in the hands of police officers at various police stations or civil servants who like the rest are very poor and shortchanged, yet take delight in acting as emperors over their less fortunate compatriots.
The focus today is on the clash between the Muslim Shi’ites and the army which happened few months ago in Kaduna State; that incident was gruesome and offends the sensibility of any person whose conscience is still alive. I was traumatized by that dastardly development but I retrained myself from commenting because I wanted to see how Nigerians, our governments and the media would react to it and what I discovered shocked me. I noticed that our reactions and levels of repulsion depended on how the development affected us personally, religiously or ethnically. If what happened to the Shi’ites had happened to one of the elite tribes, or mainstream religious groups, or still if the group had enough financial muscle, I can bet that by today both the federal government and the Nigerian state would have known no peace. It happened to the Shi’ites, a peripheral group and so we all turned our eyes the other way, wanting to pretend that a terrible thing did not happen. That is what has prompted my question: are members of the Shi’ites group in Nigeria not human beings? Are they not Nigerians? If even they are not Nigerians, don’t they have the right to exist? If they are Nigerians or have Nigerians among them, does the freedom of worship clause in our constitution not apply to them? I have heard that they are an unruly group, a republic within a republic. This is fine but the question is: would it not have made sense to infiltrate the group to learn firsthand about what they do what they do and stand for? Am yet to read how many times the governor of Kaduna State, I mean the past ones and heads of security agencies have had constructive engagements with these people and if they did, what was the outcome.
The above would have been the sensible thing to do and what became a calamity would have been clearly avoided. I thank God the report of the Commission of Inquiry has been made public and as I expected, the military has been heavily indicted. The truth is that what led to the killing of over 300 souls was not about events of that day in which the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Buratai wanted to force a way through the religious crowd on the highway. I believe it has something to do with two things. One, religious politics at the world level and two the poor manner in which we do things in this nation. The Shi’ites are propelled by Iran, while Saudi Arabia leads the other group. We just imported other people’s war and began to kill ourselves. The same way Buratai and his men would have avoided these people by taking an alternative route. They acted wrongly when Nigerian Army soldiers went back many hours after the road encounter to destroy the Shi’ite properties and kill their members. This kind of behaviour is not only barbaric, it is capable of destroying this nation; for this reason I insist severe punishment should be meted out to serve as both correctional and deterrent measures. I demand the immediate, forced resignation or compulsory retirement of the army Chief of Staff and other officers who had a hand in this animal act. Government should immediately release the Shi’ite leader and adequately compensate them for lives and properties lost. It is time we tell our government officials, armed personnel and others in line of ensuring human rights what Benjamin Franklin said: “Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.”

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