Yes, Speak Out, No To Injustice!

By Abdulmumin Giwa
Following persistent attacks and intimidations on the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) by the Nigerian government, the general public is now forced to be asking questions and coming to terms with the IMN that the attack on them cannot be justified.
Recently when members of the Movement were commemorating the death of Imam Hussain AS in Kaduna during the annual Ashura event, the Nigerian police came to the scene located in a ghetto area outside the metropolis and fired gunshots and threw teargas at the peaceful religious gathering.
People in that area reacted by condemning the police for that and the youths were actually ready to attack the police if the IMN members would join them but luckily for the police IMN is an embodiment of peace and does not trade in violence.
They were asking questions that why is the government unjust to these people. If they claim they attacked and killed members of the IMN in Zaria because they blocked the way of the Chief Of Army Staff (COAS), whose way did they block here that they are coming to attack them? Moreover the place is there’s and they were only conducting a peaceful mourning session. Don’t Nigerians have the right to practice their religions again? They say.
Some of them are even saying that the government’s action against the IMN is a deliberate plot and not accidental, they just want to finish them.
The issue turned out that it were members of the IMN that were calming the people down. Almost the same things have happened in other places the police have attacked the IMN.
This development has been on for a while especially when the IMN staged protest marches calling for the immediate and unconditional release of their leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky. People always condemned the government for refusing to obey court order for the release of the IMN leader. You hear things like: “Let this people release this man now haba!” “Dis government self, na useless people dem be woo.” “So dem still de keep am? No be court talk say make dem release am?” and many other unpleasant statements about the government by members of the public.
Of course there are those who feel the government is doing well for them and they go about eulogizing the government for killing the IMN members. They celebrate it and even praise the government for that. In fact when the COAS attended a wedding ceremony at Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna the Izala group was full of praises for him calling him the defender of Sunna and destroyer of Shi’a (Garkuwan Sunna mai kashe Yan Shi’a).
These are the Wahhabi/Salafi elements that have produced a lot of terrorists across the world and in Nigeria as well. The government enjoys their support and praises for killing Shi’as simply because they differ in understanding of the religion. To them, they now have an opportunity of a government that can kill those they see as their opponents for them, and the government appears to be enjoying this romance between them.
The Wahhabi/Salafi elements help the government to preach and deceive the public in the mosques by inducing undue hatred of the Shi’a and blind support for the APC in particular. They exonerate President Buhari from the misdoings of the government and blame the ministers and lawmakers as though he is a saint. They do all these for free for president Buhari despite the hardships and recessions founded by the regime simply because he killed Shi’as and they see him as a hero for that.
One wonders the type of heatless people they are and the type of god they claim to be worshipping due to their level of inhumanity, certainly not the Almighty God.
But actually the army and the government on the other side are all trying to sweep the killings under the carpet and are even claiming that they only killed seven people and not over one thousand. This is even as the Kaduna state government was forced by the Amnesty International to declare that they buried 347 in a mass grave. In an act of practical hypocrisy by the government, they celebrate killing Shi’as whenever they are in the midst of their supporters and say the contrary to the public in attempt to exonerate themselves.
Presently more and more people are seeking more information about the IMN and a lot of them are directly supporting the Movement all as a result of the injustice and unfairness of the government on it.
Even non-Muslims have protested and have joined in the protests organized by IMN members calling for the release of the IMN leader. I have heard statements like these on several occasions from non-Muslims “We are Christians and we are Shi’a, Free Sheikh Zakzaky!” “Government must obey court order, Free Sheikh Zakzaky!”.
Definitely proponents of justice and fairness deserve to be encouraged to continue to speak out against repression and authoritarianism being played by the regime. No to injustice and no to oppression!

THE SOKOTO STATE BAN ON SHIITE PROCESSIONS IS DISCRIMINATORY

PRESS STATEMENT:

The Islamic Movement is highly dismayed when news emanated that Sokoto state Commissioner of justice has announced the ban on Shiite processions in the state on 27/09/17. The ban was hinged on the premise that “there are ongoing activities of Shiite members in the state, that could cause public disorder,” as the Commissioner said. He then went on to say that, “under the Public Order Act, permission for any procession has to be sought through the security agencies.”
For the avoidance of any doubt we will like to remind the state government and the general public that all our processions have been peaceful throughout the history of the Islamic Movement. In fact the last three processions held by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in Sokoto metropolis were devoid of anything unpleasant and even enjoyed police protection as ordered by the constitution. Hence we are surprised by the anticipated ‘public disorder’ as proclaimed by the Commissioner.
It’s unfortunate that as a learned counsel that the Justice Commissioner is will cite Public Order Act to perpetrate an act of illegality. At this juncture we will like to remind the state government of the judgement of court of appeal wherein it’s stated ““In present day Nigeria, clearly police permit has outlived its usefulness. Certainly in a democracy, it is the right of citizens to conduct peaceful processions, rallies or demonstrations without seeking and obtaining permission from anybody. It is a right guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution and any law that attempts to curtail such right is null and void and of no consequences.”
We will like to reiterate to the general public of our commitment to peaceful assembly and protests not only in Sokoto but the nation in general. This has been the teaching of our illegally incarcerated leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky for decades, and no amount of intimidation will make us abandon that noble Islamic path. We are aware of attempts by the security agencies to carry out false flag attacks in our name, however this will not make us shy away from our responsibility of exposing their vile attempts.
Our annual Ashura procession is a peaceful assembly which is a world-wide phenomenon. It’s all about exposing the killers of Imam Husain the Grandson of our Prophet Muhammad (S). Processions in the name of APC and Buhari are allowed, why should the one in the name of the Grand Son of the Prophet be banned?
We therefore call on the Sokoto state government to rescind its decision to split the blood of innocent people during our peaceful processions. It shouldn’t tarnish the image of Sokoto state that has been adjudged to be most peaceful since the inception of Tambuwal’s administration.
SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN
Skype: ibrahim.musa42
27/09/17

Aminu Tambuwal, A Reputation At Stake

By Abdulmumin Giwa
Though not unexpected but I was breathless for a while when I heard that the Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has banned all public activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) in the state.
I was shocked to have seen him joined the bandwagon of religious bigots and extremists, despite an adored political reputation he has built for years. How could he come so low to become sentimental shallow-minded to even presume that he can become a sectarian and join the Wahhabi fight against the IMN who are minority Shiites? This is very unfortunate.
After several years as the Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representative, I was convinced that a complete detribalized Nigerian has been founded in a jolly good fellow, a personality that would not tolerate any form of sentimentalism whether of religion, tribe or region. But unfortunately here he is coming down so low to exhibit elements of hatred, intolerance and religious bigotry against a minority faith simply because he belongs to the majority.
I still don’t want to believe the governor has anything to do with this illegal, unconstitutional and irrational ban on IMN activities inn Sokoto state. I rather want to believe that it is the work of his enemies struggling to pull him down and give him a bad image.
It is in order for me and millions of other Nigerians to say that we hate President Muhammadu Buhari, COAS Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state for killing innocent unarmed civilians including women and children in Zaria in 2015, burning some alive and burying their victims in mass graves with some buried alive. This is simply on humanitarian grounds as they have committed crimes against humanity and are condemned by human rights groups of international repute.
But in the case of the Sokoto Governor I personally hold him on the neutral side but his latest actions are already pulling me to the negative side of him and so are millions of other Nigerians. It makes me wonder what good he hopes to achieve by engaging in bloodshed of innocent worshippers no matter what they worship.
There is no rational behind the action he has taken apart from the fact that he was induced with hatred of the group by their self-appointed sworn enemies and he got emotionally carried away. The IMN members are simply commemorating the death of Hussain AS the grandson of Prophet Muhammad SAWA. What could then be wrong with that? How does it threaten anybody because somebody commemorates the death of Hussain AS? Are you an enemy of Prophet Muhammad or you prefer them to celebrate the death of his grandson instead?
How can you allow yourself to be misdirected by some religious bigots despite you experience as a former Speaker of Reps? You should be a man of your own principles that will tell them that everyone in the country has the right to practice the religion of his choice and it is your duty as a citizen to respect his choice. Yes you can be ignorant about the Shi’a belief as a result of which you can be induced with false information about them but is still not an excuse.
Shi’as are Nigerians and you can reach out to them to hear their own side of the story and not to be fed with lies by those hungry Arabic speaking idiots you see as clerics. It is only from the Shi’as that you can know anything you want about them and not from their opponents who only tell you lies.
Yes we understand that the Wahhabis hold a contrary view about Shi’a Islam but is not enough reason for the Shi’as to be banned from practicing their religion by the state government. At least the constitution allows for freedom of worship. One can belong to any religion of his choice. There no such thing as state religion or sect of the state.
If the Shi’a can be denied the right to worship then Christians can also be denied the right to their religion as well. It is the opinion of the Quran that Jesus Christ (AS) is not the son of God and even sees it as blasphemous to say God has a son. But this is not enough reason why Muslims will clampdown on Christians and stop them from practicing their belief system.
Hence if you are Sunni and I am Shiite then it is my own business and not yours. Just as it is my own choice, my own right and my own prerogative to become a Shiite it is also your own responsibility to respect my choice as a citizen and not to use force to stop me.
We are aware that Saudi Arabia has bribed some clerics and politicians to exterminate Shi’a in many countries including Nigeria but I will not want to believe that you can stain your hands with the blood of innocent women and children just to make money, like a popular colleague of yours.
IMN members are already aware that killing is the worst thing you can ever do to them. Also you have been killing them all these year but this has never changed their stance and commitment to their faith. I wonder how a responsible and right-thinking person will ever be convinced that killing IMN members will stop them from their faith. All those involved in one way or the other in harassing them are already facing the repercussion in their lives. If you can meet any one of them he will definitely tell you that nothing is moving well for him.
Definitely you are taking the wrong step in your political life and this will definitely destroy your political ambition. I expected that you will be one of the strong-minded governors in the country that have refused to be misdirected into fighting with Shi’as in their states but I must say I am disappointed.
This issue you are fighting with, the issue of commemorating the death of Imam Hussain (AS) is something that will make you greater than you can ever be in your life because greater people than you can ever be have become heroes learning from Imam Hussain AS irrespective of their religious inclinations.
Nelson Mandela remained committed to his cause copying from Imam Hussain AS while he was I jail for 29 years. He said any time he felt weak and was about to give up on his struggle he remembered Imam Hussain’s struggle and remains more energetic and steadfast.
Mahatma Gandhi wished he had supporters with spirits like those of Imam Hussain AS and he would have impacted even more than he had ever. But here you are trying to engage in a fight with Hussain’s followers.
I must say that you have already lost in the battle because Hussain’s followers are never threatened with death and no amount of death threats can stop them from their faith. The worse you can ever do to them is the greatest achievement they reap from you. Nothing has changed of them since the Zaria pogrom where over 1000 of them were extra-judicially killed by the Nigerian Army despite persistent intimidations.
In your position as an elite and politician maybe the greatest achievement in your life might be for you to be praised by the imperialists as a good stooge but to us as Muslims we know and understand their conspiracy. They see Islam as the greatest threat to their interest in the world and are doing everything possible to deter it. One of their steps is that of dividing the ranks of the Muslims into two by inducing hatred and enmity. They are using the weak majority Sunni to exterminate the strong minority Shi’as and in the end, if they ever succeed they will dominate over the majority Sunni and determine their faith forever.
I will advise you not to turn yourself into a hunting dog of the imperialists working to exterminate Islam and still calling themselves Muslims. The followers of Hussain AS are your pride, your heroes and your only hope as Muslims
In conclusion I will remind you that staging protests and rallies in Nigeria are fundamental human rights of citizens that do not require any police permission. This has since been decided by the Federal Court of Appeal in the case ANPP vs Inspector-General of Police in 2007. Nigeria is a democracy. Hence nothing will deter us from the annual Ashura demonstration for which you are free to come with your killing machines and kill everybody as did the followers of Yazid LA to Imam Hussain AS and his followers at the plains of Karbala.
As a fellow brother in Islam I appeal to you not to place your reputation at stake by engaging in a lost battle of fighting against followers of Imam Hussain AS, the Shi’as.

On the rights of citizens to stage protests and rallies in Nigeria, Femi Falana SAN says…

The decision announced by the Federal Government on January 1, 2012 to increase the pump price of petrol from N65 to N140 was greeted with protests across the country last week.

The police reacted by disrupting the protests on the ground that the organizers did not obtain police permit. In the process, a protester was killed in Ilorin, Kwara state while many others were seriously injured in several parts of the country. Not a few protesters were arrested and detained without trial.

In view of the settled state of the law on the subject matter it is pertinent to draw the attention of the police and other security agencies to the celebrated case of All Nigeria Peoples Party v Inspector-General of Police (2008) 12 WRN 65 decided by the Court of Appeal on December 12, 2007. In that case the court upheld my submission that Nigerians have the fundamental right to stage rallies and protests without police permit.

In the leading judgment of the Court of Appeal Adekeye JCA (as she then was) held inter alia:
“The incident captured in the Guardian newspaper edition of October 1, 2005 where the Federal Government had in a broadcast made by the immediate past President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo publicly conceded the right of Nigerians to hold public meetings or protests peacefully against government or against the inrease in the price of petroleum products. The honourable President realised that democracy admits of dissent, protest, marches, rallies and demonstations…

A rally or playcard carrying demonstration has become a form of expression of views on current issues affecting government and the governed in a sovereign State. It is a trend recognised and deeply entrenched in the system of governance in civilised countries– it will not only be primitive but also retrogressive if Nigeria continues to require a pass to hold a rally. We must borrow a leaf from those who have trekked the rugged path of democracy and are now reaping the dividend of their experience.”

In his brief contribution to the judgment Muhammad JCA had this to say:
“In present day Nigeria, clearly police permit has outlived its usefulness. Certainly, in a democracy, it is the right of citizens to conduct peaceful processions, rallies or demonstrations without seeking and obtaining permission from anybody. It is a right guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution and any law that attempt to curtail such rights is null and void and of no consequence.”

Having regard to the authoritative pronouncement of the Court of Appeal on the fundamental right of Nigerians to freedom of assembly and expression through peaceful rallies and protests the Federal Government should restrain the police and other security agencies to desist from further harrassing or intimidating protesters.

At the same time, those who wish to demonstrate against official policies considered inimical to their interests should be made to realise that there is a corollary duty on them to conduct themselves peacefully. Otherwise, they may run foul of certain provisions of the criminal or penal code and be liable to prosecution.

Femi Falana

Shi’ah Cannot Be Crushed, Government Should Reconcile With Them –Prof. Tahir Yahya

By Abdulmumin Giwa
The Nigerian government has been called upon to reconcile with the Shi’ites as it is impossible to crush them as has been historically proven.
This was stated by a renowned academician and expert in history Professor Tahir Yahya while delivering an address at 8th Annual Sallah Feast organized by the Resource Forum at Katsina recently.
He explained the milestones the faith had gone through to get to its present state giving a major historical event of an attempt made to crush the faith at the plains of Karbala which it still survived.
Advising the Nigerian government on the need to be just and fair in its dealings with the Shiites and others he warned on certain features that easily bring down a government making reference to the sayings of Sheikh Uthman bn Fodio. He said, “Sheikh Fodio said that there are three things that easily bring down a government, for a leader to be unjust to a minority, for a leader to be surrounded by irresponsible people and for a leader to be unfair in his dealings with different groups”.
“There is need for a leader to be just because injustice can bring down any government” the professor of history added.
Condemning the extra-judicial killings of the Shiites by the Nigerian government, Prof. Yahya called on the Nigerian government to take reconciliatory steps and compensate all affected relations of the victims. He also called on the Nigerian leaders on the need to be rightly educated about the people they are leading.
He explained that the major agenda of the Nigerian government is its fight against corruption but ironically it is involved in the worse corruption of extra-judicial killing.
Absolving the Shi’ites of accusations he challenged anyone to produce a Shiite member involved in any form of massive corruption in Nigeria. He said, “Shiites don’t have any records of corruption wherever they are.”
He quoted statements credited to world leaders like Kofi Anan, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi who have eulogized the Shiites as most exemplary people.
Prof. Yahya called on the Nigerian government to set good precedence and obey court order and not to be the one guilty of contempt of court.
He finally reminded the government that Shiites are also Nigerians whose lives and property are protected by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Elrufai Must Stop Denying Us Our Religious Right!

PRESS STATEMENT:

Last Friday marked the beginning of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, in which adherents of Shia Islam all over the World mark as a mourning period in remembrance of the brutal killing of Imam Hussein (AS), the Grandson of Prophet Muhammad (S), by the evil forces of tyrannical Yazeed on the plains of Karbala. To Shia Islam, mourning the death of Imam Hussein (AS) is a sacred religious duty.
Merely a day into this mourning period this year, (last Saturday 02/01/39 equivalent to 23/09/17), Kaduna state Governor, Nasiru Elrufai sent some fully armed security agents to forcefully disperse members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria solemnly mourning as it is done worldwide. It was sheer protection of Allah, that prevented unnecessary lost of lives in the two Kaduna state towns of Zaria and Kaduna.
The Governor and his security chiefs have been encroaching on our religious rights for too long. Their action this last Saturday must be taken as severe trampling of our rights and freedom of thought, conscience and religion and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate our religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance. This is taken as provocation of the highest order and persecution taken too far. This has to stop immediately. If we don’t have the right to congregate in our centers of worship and education, where do they want us to observe our religious rites?
Similar thing happened last year in the same Kaduna when the Governor used a combination of these security forces and hired thugs to brutally attack mourners resulting in the death of scores of our members, torching of our religious center and school as well as the unjustified detention of many others to date. This mindless killing spree should not be allowed to repeat itself this year.
During our mourning sessions, nobody is molested or denied his own freedom. The sessions take place in our private centers or schools and not in any public places. We don’t force anyone to join us in the mourning sessions. Why then must we be prevented from our own religious obligations? Why should we then be subjected to these state-sponsored ruthless attacks each year?
This government is supposed to be secular. It must not be seen to be supporting any particular religious group opposed to the mourning of Ashura. Everyone must be allowed to practice his belief as guaranteed in the Nigerian laws under which Elrufai draws his legitimacy to govern justly and do right to all manners of people irrespective of their beliefs.
Our Ashura mourning is a solemn event, and like all our other activities, very peaceful. It shouldn’t be turned into a perennial killing theatre by Elrufai.
We call on all people of conscience and the International committee to raise their voice therefore to call Elrufai to order.
SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN
SKYPE: Ibrahim.musa42
25/09/17

What Nigeria Has Turned Into

Yahaya Gilima wrote:
On Nnamdi Kanu’s life being in danger, Falana said: “For sure. When armed Soldiers invaded Odi in Bayelsa State, or Zaki Biam in Benue State, they killed scores of people. Everybody’s life in Nigeria is in danger. Nigerians are shot dead in their homes by armed robbers or on the roads by Soldiers or Policemen, or by armed herdsmen on their farms. So, it is a risky business to survive in Nigeria. Even President Muhammadu Buhari, had to be flown to Britain for medical attention, because his life was in danger here. So, nobody is safe in our country.”

APC: A Government Of Armature Politicians

By Abdulmumin Giwa
Today, Nigeria can be described as an orphan because it has no caring parents. The politicians that are supposed to set the country on good and excellent tracks have only succeeded in destroying the country.
Politicians with no patriotism, no nationalism and no sense of unity or federalism are the active components of Nigerian politics especially the APC government in power.
In dispensing politics they engage in negative trends dividing people on grounds of tribalism, sectionalism, religion and also inducing and institutionalizing hatred among the various divides in the country. They even go as worse as identifying themselves with religious sectarianism, shamelessly displaying to the public where they belong.
Their activities have not only founded and enhanced enmity and hatred among citizens but have also diminished the prestige and dignity of the police and military especially the Army in the eyes of the public. It is such that many of their victims no more fear the Army talk less of the police.
They misuse power to the extent that they employ military where they are supposed to use the police and the people are getting used to having encounter with the Army that they no more fear them. The Army will be shooting civilians with live bullets and the civilians will be throwing ‘stones and broken bottles’ at them. If the police throw teargas at the civilians they pick it and throw it back at them.
One wonders what else they will be using to manage crises now that they have put down the image of the military and the police with the tribal and religious crises they have invented.
What is even worse is that the politicians have created a very bad human right image of the Nigerian Army in particular which has led some senators in the US to protest the sales of arms to Nigeria by the American government because they use such arms in killing innocent unarmed civilians.
Human rights organization of international repute have labeled the Nigerian Army as engaging in acts of crimes against humanity and even calling on the army to come clean on certain issues.
The police on the other hand are no more friends of the public but tools in the hands of the armature politician that they use in suppressing the public and violating fundamental human rights of the citizens. It is such that one hears the police saying “is an order from above” any time they attack the public or violate human rights and constitutional provisions. A very unfortunate situation!
The politicians have no regards to law and order and only respect the constitution where it suits them. They are gradually destroying the largest black nation in the world and endangering the lives of Africans by their political misdoings.
The politicians are so power-drunk that they don’t obey court orders, they don’t respect the judiciary nor do they regard them and they act against the Nigerian Constitution willfully, in fact some of them even declare that they don’t fear anybody not excluding God in public. They constantly tell lies, run contradictory statements and hate speeches in public in the name of defending one bad deed of the government or the other.
Every institution has been destroyed by the armature politicians who only understand and see military and police forces as their tools of instituting their personal whims and greed on the public, you are either with them or you are their enemy.
They disregard all the tenets of democracy and act like some kind of gods that cannot be challenged by anybody due to their lack of leadership qualities. In fact APC in Nigeria today is more of a government of sorrow, tears and blood, and that indeed is there only trademark.
As Nigeria is set on the brink of a precipice, it has become imperative on Nigerians to emancipate themselves from this 21st century slavery and medieval politics being played by the armature politicians in today.

Nigeria’s Conquistadors

By Mohammed Ibraheem Zakzaky
All Muslims take great pride in in the history of the great achievements of our predecessors in Al-Andalus, I in particular feel Al-Andalus in my veins, for I am a Bamalle; specifically my ancestors hail from a region once known as the Maghreb, which consists of what is today, Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, Mauritania and Spain. It was from the ancient city of Chinguetti, that my forefathers made their way to the house of Sheikh Usman bin Fodio from whence my great great grandfather accompanied Malam Musa to Zaria; which is where I was born. So the process I find myself enduring is beginning to feel very familiar, it’s as though we are once again back in Al-Andalus, and we are being slowly, but systematically squeezed out of our very right to exist as human beings. For the fate that seems to be in store or us for us is exactly like the one suffered by the Muslims of Spain, who were slowly but surely squeezed out of their lands, and their homes, and then they were squeezed out of existence, all thanks to the mighty efforts of the conquistadores; back then, when they made a great undertaking, founded upon a ruthless determination to satisfy their insatiable greed at any cost. An undertaking that led to the systematic eradication of Muslims from Spain; through unjustifiable acts by any moral standards.
A period in history when kingdoms armed with the inquisition on the one hand, and the ruthless and greedy conquistadores on the other; when these kingdoms used murder, terrorism, extortion and treachery, against a foe whose only true weakness was an inferior capacity for violence; when in order to survive Al-Andalus was forced to make numerous unequal treaties. Treaties which were treacherously broken by the aggressors as soon as they found it convenient. In the end the Muslims of Al-Andalus had no choice but to offer to surrender, on one condition and one condition only; that they be allowed to simply live as Muslims in peace. An agreement that was swiftly broken as soon as they laid down their arms. And thus they were effectively grinded down until they could resist no more. Then they were either forced from their homes, or else they were burned at the stake. The few survivors had to resort to desperate measures just to preserve their faith, they even went so far as to use their knowledge of building mosques, to design and build their own houses in a way that gave them a chance to at least pray in peace, while simultaneously avoiding the preying eyes of the inquisition; knowing full well that if they were discovered, they would be burned in front of a cheering crowd, pronto presto.
It was a time when one of the most infamous cases of sustained terrorism, barbarity, extortion and treachery in history was pursued to a successful completion. A time whereby a peaceful people were systematically eradicated by a bloodthirsty group of people whose credentials were filled with nefarious activities such as burning women at the stake, burning entire cities to the ground and burning mountains upon mountains of books; all in an effort to exterminate what they called heresy. These inquisitors and conquistadores would go on to use their shameful training, to repeat the same tactic to wipe entire races from the face of the earth, they would exterminate entire populations, destroy entire civilizations, and enslave entire races. These are the people who are responsible for wiping out the Mayan and Incan civilizations to name but a few. For whatever and whoever they could not bend to their greedy will, they destroyed. The world and humanity as a whole has none but these inquisition backed conquistadores to thank for having been robbed and raped by the likes of Pedro de Alvarado, Hernan Cortez and Nuno de Guzman. A strategy that was so efficiently pursued so that an entire dimension of knowledge is now forever lost forever. But they started it all with the Muslims of Al-Andalus, their own neighbours. As these murderers screamed ‘Deus Vult!’ they refused to love their neighbours as Christ had commanded.
Three years ago, three of my brothers were practically tortured to death along with thirty one other men women and children who happened to be in the vicinity at the time, for no justifiable reason other than it being a simple opportunity that was technically available to the soldiers who were armed to the teeth at the time. Men who now have power that is unencumbered by purpose or reason in such a way that they are allowed to let their dark sides lose. Whatever may have led to the incident is of no consequence when you consider the fact that to this day this act of extrajudicial murder that was committed by uniformed officers of the Nigerian Army has never been graced with even an iota of official recognition, let alone an official statement. Little more than a year later, men in the same uniform, besieged my father’s home for more than three days, and then stormed it, burning and pillaging their way, raping and killing as they pleased, until they found a room, where the few who were still living, including my parents and my three remaining brothers had taken refuge. They then unleashed the fury of their weapons upon the helpless last survivors until they were sure that all were dead. I listened on the phone that dropped from my mother’s hand, I heard as they commented “this one no die” followed by the loud crack of a shot being fired. I heard their voices, as they talked as if the whole affair was routine for them.
In less than three years, the Nigerian Army has carried out a campaign in which it has supposedly failed to defeat ‘Boko Haram,’ an archetype doomsday kind of an enemy, whose core belief is that knowledge is Sin! An incomprehensible enemy with an apparent determination to seek out and find the location of the horn of Azraeel (the Angel of death), so that they can blow into it, because for them the world must end now. This Nigerian army which is supposed to be fighting this doomsday cult, in such an epic battle for life versus death, has not only failed to defeat that ‘enemy;’ it has managed to find the time to have murdered my brother Ahmad on the side. A recently graduated chemical engineer, Ahmad’s foremost concern was to begin his masters-degree. With their bullets they murdered Hamid, who was an aspiring aeronautical engineer in his second year, two years shy of getting his first degree. Mahmood who had an aptitude for fine art and was hoping to become a graphic designer. A little over a year later, Hammad; who was most intrigued by Sigmund Freud and Hilgard, and was most sparked when discussing the subject of phycology, was murdered in the laundry room of our house, before he had ever gotten the chance to enrol in a university. Along with him Ali who is also my brother, was recovering from a wound that nearly cost him his leg, after he was deliberately shot in the leg, he had just returned home after nearly a yearlong battle to save his shattered leg. The youngest of my brothers, Humaid was still a child, busy dressing up and playing as the likes of Captain Jack Sparrow and Ezio Auditore da Firenze, jumping up and down from ledges, windows and trees. I know very little about the many others who were in the room with them at the time. But two years on, we have still not been allowed to even bury them. They lie in a mass grave somewhere in Kaduna State.
Most of the survivors of the horrific experiences of December 2015 are still unaccounted for. The majority of the ones whose whereabouts we know have languished for nearly two years now. We have pursued every known path within the confines of the rule of Law, as it is in the Federal republic of Nigeria today. We have tried all the peaceful means available to us. We have consistently protested in public, we have gone to the courts, we have made appeals to whomever we could reach, we have tried everything, yet we have been unable to achieve even something as simple as enforcing the fundamental human rights that are supposed to be guaranteed to even the most destructive of criminals. In the meantime, many people have been killed, maimed or arrested for no reason other than that they protested in public. Many have had their homes destroyed and their property looted, worst of all, properties including those belonging to my father have been invaded and exploited in broad daylight, by arms of this government, even though there are absolutely no legal grounds for doing so. As of right now there are hundreds who have been incarcerated and denied even a thing as simple as bail. People who have been incarcerated and accused of various kinds of fictional crimes, crimes that they had no capacity to even contemplate, let alone commit. The evidence brought against them has included such things as charred laptops, SIM cards and phone chargers.
If I was to naturally fall and die right now, I imagine I would have to prefer to be buried in secret, or it will certainly be dangerous for anyone to take me to the one place that should be my final resting place, where three of my brothers still lie, where my other three brothers should have been laid. Yet this is a location that continues to be routinely vandalized with this government’s support, to this day, a location I cannot visit in peace. If I am lucky, and I die a natural death, or if I am unlucky and I do get murdered, one thing is certain, my corpse would have to be extremely lucky to end up in the hands of a surviving loved one and not in some mass grave. Even if I do get lucky enough to be buried in peace where I belong, there is the issue of that gravestone, the one I designed and had made, so I could sleep under it when my time comes. The stone I designed and had made on the same day I made that belonging to my grandmother and my aunt, both of which have now been stolen. The stones I placed over the graves of Ahmad, Hamid and Mahmood were driven over with bulldozers until they cracked, and they too would have also been stolen, were it not for the unyielding bravery of a few good men, women and children.
The more and more I think of it, the more I get a Grenadine kind of feeling chilling its way down my spine. I start to feel like I am just another poor soul in a place like, Toledo, Seville, Valencia, Cordoba or Granada. For our plight is not unlike that which the Muslims of Al-Andalus had to endure for a period of decades and centuries. It is demonstrably very clear and evident that any possible collection of the tactics being employed against us is so reminiscent and neigh identical to the grand strategy that was employed by the conquistadores against Muslims who would later become labelled as the Moriscos. It becomes so apparent that the collective similarities and correlations between the scenarios can no longer be ignored. On the night of my best friend’s thirty third birthday he told me something that I simply wanted and tried to play down. I was twenty three years old at the time. That night he told me that when one reached the age he had just reached, one would have no choice but choose which dreams to pursue and which to abandon as lost causes. Then he said “you will be very fortunate if, even one of your preferred choices happen to be on the menu.” I reached thirty one years of age, a few days after the Nigerian Army murdered my brothers; Ahmad, Hamid and Mahmood. At that time in 2015 I chose to use all at my disposal to have Jonathan voted out of office, and I got to work.
We must stop acting in ways that can possibly help a government that is not only clearly steering Nigeria down the path of evil dictatorship; but also a government that is unabashed to openly pursue a dictatorially, mad, atrocious and genocidal strategy. A government that is unabashedly and clearly willing to charter the course of the entire nation that is Nigeria, down the path of transforming into this world’s second great Necrocracy. Existing by the graces of a figurative and practical corpse. We must not continue to hold our brothers back, since our enemies are clearly determined to use all our efforts against us. It is not our place, and it is most certainly not our duty, to go out of our own way to preserve a peace that doesn’t really exist. In a time when something as simple as delivering medical attention to your fellow human beings, your brothers, your sisters, your father and even your mother proves to be an impossibility, a time when you can be made to languish in captivity and devoid of even the most basic of rights in practical perpetuity; a time in which to be properly buried is an unattainable and unimaginable privilege, what else can you do? Considering our lack of any capacity for violence, what more can we try? In light of these circumstances what option is left to us other than silence? If you cannot tell the person next to you, ‘that as long as they stay within the boundaries of the constitution and the law of the land, they will be safe from undue harm,’ then what do we have left to say? What can you say to the likes of ISIS, ISIL, Boko Haram and the Animal and his undead master? What word is left between us and these kinds of Fanatics?
We must stop telling people to stop, for we have truly nothing more to say, and virtually nothing to show for all our efforts. God is and will always be our first and last resort, we must start praying that God be with those who seek justice. We must pray for them, even if their quest for justice requires that they have to respond in kind to even the odds of our survival, by fighting fire with fire. We must stop using our belief in peace and harmony as an excuse to hold people back, based on ideals that are ruthlessly disregarded by the conquistadores of this day and age. As peaceful protestors get harassed, detained, massacred, raped and violated; as people get victimized in every way imaginable, as we continue to live and endure life in a state that is ruled by a government that is protected by an army that is clearly determined to find and open Pandora’s Box. We who are not versed in vandalism and barbarism, may continue to follow the peaceful path we know and live by. But if any one comes to you or me and says he wishes to do something drastic, I think that it is in our best interest, that we try to prevail upon ourselves to just leave it be and pray that “God be with the righteous.” Let them deal with the daemons they are so desperate to unleash. We have and want nothing to resort to, save God Almighty.
They accuse us of setting up a parallel government, simply because we acted to prevent their ethnic cleansing plan of 2007. They have killed our friends, they killed our brothers, they killed our sisters, they killed our fathers and they have even killed our mothers; worst of all they have even gone as far as to plan and implement a tactic of killing our children. Those who survived their onslaught of mindless violence have been maintained in a state of induced decay. Dead or alive the victims of the conquistador modelled Nigerian Army and their families are being made to suffer. Those who died have been dumped into mass graves, those who survived have been detained without fair trial. Meanwhile, under the protection of this government their homes are being destroyed, the homes where they had once sheltered fellow human beings from the madness and massacre, are being destroyed. People are being dispossessed simply because they followed the teachings of Imam Hussain. No more, we must and will defend our homes and our lives. By hook or crook we will commemorate the murder of imam Hussain (A.S) as we have always done, come what may! When they rise to kill us like sheep, they will find the wolf’s road to be riddled with the difficulties that form the minefield of God’s protection

Zaria Genocide: A Conspiracy Of Silence

Press Statement:

While the suffering and persecution of Burma’s Muslim Rohingya have captured headlines and the attention of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Nigeria’s far worse oppression of Shia Muslim minorities has been largely ignored. Credible human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Humana rights watch and Islamic Human rights commission have on several occasions since the infamous Zaria massacre by the Nigerian army in December, 2015 condemned the barbarity displayed by the army on unarmed civilians with indisputable proofs, but to the chagrin of people of conscience the UN body has kept mute on the issue.

The most recent attempt by the human rights bodies to draw the attention of the world on the plight of the Shia minorities in Nigeria is the symposium conducted by the Amnesty International in Abuja during the commemoration of the International day of the disappeared persons. During the event family members of some victims of the forceful disappearance of members of IMN, widely known as Shiites during the Zaria genocide were present, likewise photographic and video proofs of the massacre were displayed to the public, but to the consternation of all, the international body is yet to take any concrete move on this brazen human rights abuse by Buhari administration.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that hundreds of innocent civilians have died and more have been injured or terrorized by Nigeria’s military acting under Buhari’s direction within two days only, precisely 12-14 December, 2015. We believe this genocide of Shia Muslim minority is not a “domestic” matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of Nigeria. Genocide is a crime against all of mankind which concerns every country. Hence we urged member states of the United Nations organization to hold Nigeria accountable for its crimes and not let the country get away with genocide.

Even the kangaroo judicial commission set up by Kaduna state government has confirmed the existence of a mass grave in the outskirts of Kaduna full of at least 347 bodies of members of IMN, killed and hastily buried by the Army and Kaduna state government on the orders of the state Governor Elrufai.

Instead of providing president Buhari a megaphone, the United Nations should be expelling Nigeria from membership under Article 6 of the United Nations Charter. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should be referring the president and his henchmen like Army Chief of Staff Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai and Kaduna state Governor, Nasiru Elrufai to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, to investigate for complicity in genocide.

The UNSC should also be imposing an arms embargo on Nigeria under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter until the Zaria genocide is independently investigated and culprits brought to book. These sanctions against Nigeria would honor twin objectives of the United Nations: (1) “to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained;” and, (2) “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to…religion.”

In as much as the UN is to be blamed for its silence on Zaria massacre, the silence exhibited by the National assembly in Abuja is even more confounding. Of recent the senate president Bukola Saraki is reported to be decrying the military’s attempt to list IPOB among terrorist groups. We wonder where Saraki was when a worse treatment was visited on Shia Muslim minorities since December 2015 by the Army.

Where was Saraki when soldiers of the Nigerian Army killed over a thousand people in Zaria between December 12 and 14, 2015? Where was Saraki when El-Rufai proscribed the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and engaged the services of thugs to team up with security agents to clampdown on members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, killing, maiming as well as torching and destroying their properties?

Where was Saraki when a joint force consisting of the military, police and plain clothes security agents carried out the extra judicial killing of scores of Shia Muslim minorities in Funtua, Kaduna, Jos and other places in October, 2016? Was Saraki not in the country when police brutally killed over 30 people in November 2016 during the Arba’een trek in Kano?

This and many others make it difficult to resist the conclusion that there is a conspiracy of silence within the international human rights community and the various arms of governance in Nigeria as regards the persecution of members of IMN. Nonetheless this will not deter us in the struggle for justice to the victims of Zaria massacre. We therefore once again reiterate our stand for the immediate and unconditional release of our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, his wife, and hundreds of his followers languishing in various jails across the country. We also demand for the hundreds of bodies of IMN members killed by the Army for proper Islamic burial.

SIGNED BY

IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN
Skype: Ibrahim.musa42
19/09/17