By Abdulmumin Giwa
Definitely, going by the rules of natural justice and simple reasoning, El-Rufai lacks the moral standing even as Governor to implement such a rigid and draconian law on the IMN as it only tantamount to being a judge in his own case.
The Kaduna Governor is already guilty of crimes against humanity by playing the role of covering up the crime, sweeping it under the carpet and destroying physical evidences of the Army massive killings of IMN members in Zaria. This includes burying 347 IMN members both dead and living in a mass grave in the middle of the night.
He did not on his own volition reveal the crime he committed during the pogrom when his representative appeared before the Judicial commission of Inquiry (JCI), he was forced to by the Amnesty International (AI) report which indicted him and even produced satellite pictures of the scene of one of the mass graves at Mando Kaduna. The initial plan was to sweep it all under the carpet as the army denied killing IMN members saying they killed only seven instead of over 1000.
He even made efforts to defend his action publicly by miss-presenting the Geneva Convention laws to the public as his reasons for burying human beings alive in a mass grave to hide the crimes committed by the Army.
Imagine how heartless a man could be to burry men, women children and infants, dead and living in the same mass grave without observing their religious rights to be buried as provided.
Sources even have it that one of the victims of the mass burial, a lady that was only injured and was begging to be killed before being buried but they refused to kill her saying they were not ordered to kill them but to bury them.
As an extension of the Zaria massacre those who protested the massacre in Kaduna were ordered to be killed by the governor and 15 more people were killed by the mobile police force on the 15th of December in Kaduna while several others were arrested and are still in Kaduna prison at the moment.
He was the one that set up the Judicial Commission of Inquiry (JCI) to look into the Zaria massacre and the JCI had no choice than to indict him in its report that he violated religious, state and international laws by mass burying IMN members in the middle of the night.
He is also the one that used his position as governor with impunity to demolish the sites where the soldiers used very heavy weapons like rocket propelled grenades on unarmed civilians, men, women and children just to help cover up crimes. He even packed away the rubbles from the scene after the demolition. This man is a war criminal of the highest standing.
Yet the IMN he is fabricating lies against, claiming that they are violent without any genuine proof took the steps of seeking redress without resorting to any breakdown of law and order. They engage in peaceful protests and rallies as well as media campaigns calling for the release of their leader. They have avoided all attempts by the perpetrators of the Zaria massacre to be pushed into any form lawlessness.
The IMN also took its case before the Federal High Court seeking the enforcement of the rights of their leader who has been in illegal detention without any charge after being shot severally, three of his sons murdered by the Army in his presence, his wife shot in the womb, his elder sister burned alive and his residence set ablaze by the Army and later demolished by the Governor.
It also took its case to the International Criminal Court ICC seeking redress and one of those indicted in the case is El-Rufai and the same was mentioned before a side panel at the United Nations.
The bone of contention here is that the IMN has completely avoided violence and mob action while seeking redress through peaceful means. It has also remained focused and resolute and refused to be pushed to the wall. The perpetrators of the Zaria massacre have made all efforts to ensure that they attribute violence to the IMN but all to no avail. They have fabricated fake tales to demonize the Movement without any evidence.
They claim the IMN is being sponsored by Iran but have failed to produce any evidence of financial transactions whatsoever, they claim that the IMN is armed but have failed to produce the arms and they also claim that the IMN is running a government within a government but have no evidence as well as the IMN members hold Nigerian passports and they took their case before Nigerian court and not take up arms to defend themselves. The IMN has also never declared any territory for itself or produced its own currency flag or anthem.
The Governor himself lied to Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky during the pogrom when he called him saying he was coming to Zaria to stop the Nigerian Army from the killing spree at Hussainiyya but he never did. Instead they used the call he made to the IMN leader as their evidence before the JCI that the IMN leader was called upon to stop his followers from what they were doing but he refused to stop them which is a blatant lie. No wonder former President Obasanjo described him as a pathological liar.
The IMN was denied right to fair hearing before the JCI during its sitting. The soldiers including the General Officer that led the killing spree made their presentations before the JCI, sponsored groups and anonymous organizations as well as rival Islamic sects mostly Wahhabis and others were all present before the JCI to make their submissions.
On the other hand they pushed the IMN away, refused to bring the IMN leader and primary victim of the attack before the JCI or even allow access to him even as they were keeping him in illegal detention. There were almost 200 IMN members in Prison most of whom were arrested at the scenes of the killings whose sides of the stories were never sorted. Despite these discrepancies the JCI sat and produced a report that is totally in conflict with the recommendations it made.
The report indicted the Governor on mass burial but the recommendation overlooked the indictment. The report also indicted the Army and recommended that the culprits be prosecuted but they were not arrested or detained or even invited for briefing.
Also the report looked for a way and indicted the IMN but the Governor took immediate steps against the IMN to the extent of implementing a controversial draconian law against it.
He did not address his own crimes against humanity as indicted by the report, he did not address the crimes of the Army that killed and injured the 347 IMN members he buried dead and alive but he is quick at clamping down on the IMN that is crying for justice to be done. This is oppressive, tyrannical and draconian. It is a violation of civility and good reasoning because it simply shows how desperate the governor is.
This implies that declaring IMN an “illegal society” is not done in the interest of the state but in the personal greedy interest of El-Rufai. Hence, he is guilty of abuse of office for using public office to satisfy his personal whim.
We are aware that this project of eliminating the IMN is not actually directly the initiative of the government but a contract from some foreign imperialist powers. These powers include Saudi Arabia, United States and Israel with each one having its own interest and role.
The Saudis who are flag bearers of the imperialist invented form of Islam called Wahhabism, who have founded terrorist organizations like ISIL, DAESH, AL-QAEDA, BOKO HARAM and others, are desperately struggling to wipe out the rival Shiite ideology by all means. They view Shiite Islam as a threat to the existence of their Wahhabi ideology.
The Americans see the IMN as a threat to their interest as well because to them it shows growing Iranian influence in the largest black nation of the world. In order to impose its own interest it has to eliminate the IMN. It has spent billions of dollars to demonize Iran across the world because it is implementing a rival system of government that is totally independent of their control and this is a serious blow on their imperialist interest. IMN is identified as being influenced by Iran.
Israel is a direct opponent of Iran in the world. It is Iran that has empowered the weak Arabs the Israelis are suppressing especially in Palestine and Lebanon. Iran supports Hamas in their fight for the freedom of Palestinian lands that are being illegally occupied by the Israelis. Iran also supports the Hizbullah of Lebanon that has blocked the Israelis from occupying their lands. Iran has also organized global Pro-Palestinian sensitization and awareness. The IMN identifies with this in the annual Quds Day processions. For this and others the Israelis also have their stake in it.
The trio supported the coming of the coming of the current Nigerian regime into power with one of the conditions being that the IMN be banned, its leader be killed and the members forcefully dispersed. This they accepted and were brought into power. Nigerians know that if former President Goodluck Jonathan had wanted to continue he would have continued as president. The only thing he needed to do would have been to manage post-election crises and that’s all. But because there was imperialists interest he was made to congratulate President Buhari before the elections result were announced.
In fulfillment of the conditions given him by the imperialist powers he ordered the killing of Shi’ites some months after being sworn-in. El-Rufai on his side, seeking relevance, he gave into the deal so that he could succeed Buhari as President. He is working to see that he gains relevance in the eyes of Israel America and Saudi Arabia.
Nothing of the entire crises is in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians but the personal caprices of the perpetrators, that is why one would notice the desperation on the side of the government. There are a lot of groups including Boko Haram that are doing worse harms to the existence of Nigeria that have not faced this ban in Nigeria which will definitely tell you that there is an interest.
Their intention with this draconian law is to provoke the IMN members into reactions that would lead to violence and to also use it as an opportunity to frame the IMN with further flag-up operations in the name of IMN.
Anyway, this law will not see the light of the day because it is a mad thought, weak and partial in nature. And its true, “When God wants to destroy a man He starts by making him mad”.