The Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, popularly known as Shiites, has confirmed the killing of at least ten of its members at Zuba, on the outskirts of Abuja allegedly by the Nigerian Army on Saturday.
IMN spokesman Ibrahim Musa said in a statement that members of the group were attacked while on a peaceful religious procession of Arba’een from Suleja.
“The army went away with the corpse of three of the victims, one of the victim’s corpse has been identified as Abdul’aziz Maigana, who until his demise was with the members of the Islamic Movement in Suleja,” Mr Musa said.
He said the movement vehemently condemned the action of the security agents, as “unwarranted, since the march has been peaceful.”
The statement further added, “In fact it was being rounded up for the day, when soldiers opened fire on the peaceful marchers without any provocation whatsoever.”
“The fact that a similar Arba’een march was conducted in Kano along the Kano-Zaria highway for two days without any incident, is enough a pointer to the peaceful nature of the annual religious rites. Similar Arba’een mourning processions are currently ongoing in Katsina and Kaduna states without any incident,” according to the press statement.
The Islamic Movement then cautioned the security agents to stop harassing its members, “since today is just the beginning of the peaceful mourning march on foot, and it is expected that more people may join the mass peaceful march, which will culminate in the grand Arba’een day, to be marked on Tuesday, 30 October, 2018, the same day it would be commemorated worldwide.”
“If the security agents are trigger-happy, then they should save their arms and bullets to other parts of the country engulfed in violence, but not on peaceful marchers carrying no arms with them.”
