President Muhammadu Buhari is
considering the proscription of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), security
and administration sources have revealed.
The proscription, which is likely
to come in form of an executive order, is expected to be made public between
tonight and tomorrow.
An emergency meeting of security
chiefs held at the State House late Monday afternoon, and the conclusion was
that the IMN will be declared an illegal organisation in Nigeria.
It is a direct response to the
protests that turned violent Monday when members of Shiite IMN took over the
streets of central Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
The demonstration was billed as
just another instalment of relentless agitation for the release of Ibrahim
El-Zakzaky, a foremost Nigerian Shiite cleric who was taken into custody four
years ago.
It, however, ended with
casualties, including the death of a deputy police commissioner. The IMN said
11 of its members were killed during the violence.
Presidential spokespersons, Femi
Adesina and Garba Shehu, did not immediately return requests for comments about
the president’s consideration of a Shiite proscription on Monday night.
Mr El-Zakzaky was arrested
following an invasion of his residence in Zaria, northern Nigeria, between
December 12-14, 2015.
The official death toll of the
invasion, which was carried out by Nigerian soldiers in the dead of the night,
was 347 for Shi’a adherents. The IMN said the official death toll was grossly
downplayed and insisted more than 1,000 of its members were killed in that
single attack.
The military said the protesters
had attempted to block the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, from the free
passage on a highway that runs through the Shi’a headquarters in Zaria in the
evening of December 12, 2015, and soldiers had no choice but to open fire when
the Shiites became unruly.
The IMN strongly disputed the
military’s account, saying its members were peaceful during the encounter.
They also questioned why the
Nigerian Army deployed heavily armed soldiers, bulldozers and excavators to
demolish both the headquarters and Mr El-Zakzaky’s residence in an operation
that lasted two days.
A panel of enquiry constituted by
the Kaduna State Government indicted Nigerian Army officers for the massacre,
and also recommended the prosecution of some IMN leaders for various offences.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai accepted
the conclusions of the judicial panel, but partially implemented its
recommendations by proscribing the Shiite movement in Kaduna State.
No action was taken against the
military officers indicted by the panel.
A separate investigation into the
violence has been ongoing at the United Nations, with preliminary findings
revealing that the Nigerian government has questions to answer.
Mr El-Zakzaky and his members
have instituted several court cases against the government for his detention,
and an order for his release had been handed down by a federal court.
However, the government has been
reluctant to obey the order, citing national security and the cleric’s safety.
A few days ago on July 10,
federal lawmakers also passed a resolution for the Buhari administration to
honour court orders and release the cleric. They expressed fears that Nigeria’s
security crisis could get even more complicated if IMN members become
radicalised over the prolonged incarceration of their leader and deadly
confrontations with security forces.
The cleric was taken away from
the public’s view, alongside his wife, Zeenah, who was arrested with him on
December 14, 2015.
He was only allowed a brief
appearance before television cameras at the headquarters of the State Security
Service in Abuja, where he had been detained for the most of his incarceration.
A few months ago, the cleric was
transferred to Kaduna and arraigned on criminal charges. But widespread
protests for his release continued almost every other day since his arrest.
The protesters have encountered
deadly response from Nigerian security forces, which had led to hundreds of
deaths.
In October 2018, dozens of
Shiites were killed when Nigerian soldiers responded to a procession with live
ammunition.
Security agencies, however,
denied using disproportionate force, saying the Shiites were the aggressors and
they would not be allowed to take over the Nigerian capital and unleash
violence on citizens.
Groundwork laid
The Buhari administration has
long categorised IMN as a violent group and encourages the use of force to
suppress its agitations.
“This proscription will put an
end to the madness of Shiites in Nigeria,” one of the official sources who
confirmed the discussion on the executive order for proscription said on Monday
night.
Another source said Mr Buhari
would cite the Terrorism Prevention Act to ban the Shiite movement in Nigeria.
The law was introduced under President Goodluck Jonathan to proscribe Boko
Haram as a terrorist organisation and intensify the crackdown on its members.
PremimTines reports that the
police have concluded that they might not be able to contain Shiite protesters
in Abuja any longer. But the administration had now become reluctant to deploy
soldiers to crush protests in downtown Abuja because of its negative
perception.
Sources said Mr Buhari
sympathised with the situation the police have found themselves on the Shiite
crisis but was also concerned about what Nigerians would say should he
proscribe yet another group for its antagonistic tactics.
“The judgement is called for,” a
source said. “But the presidency is probably concerned that people will say: so
why not Fulani Herdsmen, too?”
Our sources spoke under anonymity
because they were not authorised to disclose the development before a formal
announcement by the administration.
If gazetted, the IMN will be the
second organisation to be proscribed by Mr Buhari, who assumed office in May
2015 and was declared the winner of a second term this March. The government
had declared the separatist Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) a violent group
in 2017 and proscribed its activities across Nigeria.
It was not immediately clear how
the IMN would respond to its proscription if announced.
A spokesperson for the movement
said a decision would be taken after official announcement by the
administration
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