On 12th through 14th December 2015, Nigeria witnessed one of the most horrific carnage on it civilian population. On these days, the Nigerian Army in what is clearly a preplanned and coordinated military operations, unleashed the most heinous and barbaric massacre on unarmed members of the Islamic Movement (IMN) in Nigeria
under the revere leadership of His Eminence Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, in Zaria, Kaduna State. They killed 1000+ armless civilians in cold blood that included seniors and children, shooting women in their private part, sexually abusing sisters before killing them, stabbing sisters with knife in their breast, burning people alive, destroying religious centers and even exhuming graves of the deceased.
Also included were students of tertiary institutions, lawyers, engineers, doctors, journalist etc. Several members of the movement, significant number among them with various degree of injuries without proper medical attention, are currently in illegal detention at various military facilities across the country and about 750 missing. To this day Sheik Zakzaky’s where about is still unknown and he is yet to be tried in any court of law, this is clearly against the Nigerian constitution, which states that no individual should be detained for more than twenty four hours without trial.
Sheik Zakzaky is peace loving man that taught millions of Nigerians to speak against injustice, to live the life of honesty free of crime, to be good to our neighbors, to help the poor, above all Sheik Zakzaky taught million Muslims that Nigerian Christian are not our enemies but our brothers and sisters in humanity and our partners in peace. Are all these crimes? Why would the government want to eliminate him? Why is the killing only option to the Nigerian Army? We are demonstrating to demand the followings: The unconditional release of Sheik Zakzaky who was detained for more than two months without being tried in any court of law. Up till now our corpses were not given back to us for proper Islamic burial, we demand that our brothers and sisters corpses should be given to us for proper burial. Some members are still with gunshot that need medical attention, let the authority release them for proper treatment. There are more than 750 missing members, we need to know their where about. Let the authority know that we will continue our peaceful protest till our leader is release.
It is our constitutional right to demonstrate peacefully, without threat from the security agencies, who are trying by all means to shade blood. The movement and its members throughout the country are known for their peaceful disposition, where they preach mostly at central mosques especially during Friday congregations, Jos included. However, here in Jos, the capital city of Plateau State, the situation is entirely different. Sometime last January, the female members of the IMN staged a protest match against the Zaria carnage, which was monitored by the Nigeria Police and ended peacefully with press statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Sheikh Zakazaky, his wife, all detained members and corpses of slain members.
However, to our astonishment and utter disbelief, the STF, hold a press conference stating that there was a violent confrontation between Shiites and some youths that led to lost of one life at a spot, ironically, a route that the demonstrators did not even pass through. But the Nigeria Police Force, called for another press conference categorically debunking the claim of the STF, explaining what happened was a rival gangs clash several hours after the protest match and were not even remotely connected. Since then the Army stations their soldiers on Fridays conspicuously at the spot where the movement normally preach after the Jumu’at congregations.
The STF claimed to have received information that IMN is now a threat and want to forcefully take over the central mosque. The debacle of the spurious clash and the current posture of the STF put a question mark on the Army’s capability of developing actionable intelligence. Rudimentarily, threat is characterized by intent, capability and method of operation, ours is not hidden, how do we then, qualified as a threat to the mosque? In conclusion we are not going to be provoked and loose our focus of unflinching commitment toward peaceful coexistent among various ethnic nationalities.
We want to reiterate, like our brothers and sisters did, our demand for immediate and unconditional release of our leader, his wife, all detained members and corpses of our slained members. #
FreeZakzaky #GodProtectZakzaky
#Istandwithtruth
Sign by Yakubu Ibrahim (For the forum)