Clashes between members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) and the Nigeria Police got out of hand in Abuja on Monday April 16, 2018. Tear gas, hot water cannons and allegedly some live bullets were fired, many people including policemen were injured and scores of IMN members, otherwise known as Shiites, were arrested. They had converged at the Unity Fountain in Abuja for their usual sit-out protest to demand for the release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
According to the police, FCT Police Commissioner Sadiq Bello went to the Unity Fountain and appealed to the group to relocate to the Old Parade Ground in Area 10, Garki. He said the demand was because military chiefs from all over Africa and the United States were meeting at the nearby Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
Witnesses said the IMN members refused turned down the Police Commissioner’s and said as Nigerians, they have the right to freedom of movement and association. The police then tried to evict them from the Transcorp hotel surroundings by firing tear gas and hot water.
The Shi’ite protesters in turn resorted to throwing stones at the police and they attacked police Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) with sticks and stones. Some vehicles parked along the road were damaged while traffic in parts of the Abuja city center was disrupted for many hours.
Spokesperson of the FCT Police Command DSP Anjuguri Manzah said members of IMN injured twenty-two policemen during the clash. He listed exhibits recovered from the arrested protesters to include catapults, iron bars, stones, ball bearings and pink head bands. IMN’s spokesman Ibrahim Musa however blamed security agents for the breakdown of law and order during the protest.
He said, “it was purely a show of shame by the police and other security services that are hell bent on forcibly stopping our legitimate campaign for government to obey the orders of its courts by freeing Sheikh El-Zakzaky”.
The police did well by charging the detained protesters to court without delay. An Abuja Magistrate Court presided over by Yusuf Ubangari has granted bail to 22 detained protesters including three minors. It would be recalled that Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife have been in detention for over 2 years following a violent clash on December 12 and 14, 2018 between Shi’ites and the military in Zaria. The clash was triggered by members of IMN who blocked the road and refused to allow the convoy of Army Chief Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai to pass even after pleas by military brass.
In December 2016, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja granted bail to El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenatudeen. The court presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole ordered the immediate and unconditional release of El-Zakzaky and his wife. The judge also fined the federal government N50 million for the incarceration of the duo. More than a year after the suspects were granted bail, government has refused to obey the court order.
Government has no reason to justify its refusal to release El-Zakzaky. The explanation that no one is ready to be El-Zakzaky’s neighbour does not warrant his continued detention. El-Zakzaky’s prolonged detention is the source of unceasing protests by the IMN group on Abuja streets which turned violent recently. One looming danger in El-Zakzaky’s perpetual detention is the risk of breeding another Boko Haram group in the country. Protests by IMN members could take unimagined dimensions if the frustrations suffered in their failure to secure their leader’s release get to a boiling point.
Government’s disrespect of a court order does not portray it in good light. If El-Zakzaky’s release is seen to constitute any threat to national security, government could decide to give some strict conditions for his release including signing an agreement not to engage in any act that would breach public peace. More than a year after a competent court ordered his release it is time to release El-Zakzaky, lest we breed another Boko Haram.
