THE religious procession of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, also known as the Shi’ite Islamic sect, has been repeatedly accompanied by threats, violence, arson, and incarceration. Apart from creating a dark climate of fear and anxiety, the ensuing clashes between the sect and security forces instigate causalities and losses and give room for serious concern. While the police must maintain law and order, the Shi’ites movement should caution its members to conduct themselves with decorum and civility.
Nigerians witnessed another round of violence when the Shi’ites clashed with the police in the Wuse district of the Federal Capital Territory on August 25. The incident occurred when the IMN embarked on its religious procession called the Arbaéen Symbolic Trek. The optics were disturbing.
Conflicting statements ensued as the police blamed the Shi’ites for the chaos, burning of police vehicles, and killing two police officers. The IMN countered that the police attacked the procession unprovoked, leading to numerous arrests, injuries, and alleged extrajudicial killings.
Unfortunately, the Shi’ite movement has had a chequered history with the government. In December 2015, the group clashed with military troops when it blocked the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, Kaduna State. This led to hundreds of deaths.
During that 2015 Ashura procession by the movement, the troops slaughtered 347 IMN members, according to an inquest by the Kaduna State Government. They arrested their leader, Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat. The Kaduna State Government filed charges against 177 IMN members for the death of a soldier, Yakuku Dankaduna.
Afterward, there was a violent protest in Abuja over the ailing health of their leader in Department of State Services custody in 2019. The effect of the clash between the police and protesters led to several deaths. A Channels Television reporter died in the crossfire. These made Nkeonye Maha, the judge handling the case, describe the activities of the IMN as “acts of terrorism and illegality” and proscribe the IMN.
On the flip side, the government was harsh with the IMN. Despite court orders releasing el-Zakzaky and Zeenat from custody, the DSS refused to release them, thereby violating the rule of law. This glaring subversion of their human rights subsisted throughout the Muhammadu Buhari administration (2015-2023). It provoked tensions, protests, and clashes between the IMN and security agencies in the North and Abuja.
These continual and dastardly confrontations must stop. The police should be pre-emptive instead of reactive in coordinating security for the Shi’ite processions. They should prepare for every religious procession, including the IMN’s marches.
A seamless and peaceful procession can be achieved by engaging the leadership of the IMN, mapping out routes, explaining the ground rules through robust sensitisation, and protecting peaceful religious rites. Without fairness and mutual understanding, the clash between the IMN and the police may reoccur in subsequent religious processions.
The police should take a leaf out of India’s book, where numerous religious processions do not lead to unpalatable bloodshed. While the IMN has fundamental rights of association, assembly, expression, and religious practice, the police are empowered to enforce guardrails that prevent them from imposing themselves or sabotaging the privacy and freedom of other citizens.
The IMN leadership must rein in its members’ excesses. The leaders should ensure that their members do not bear arms, disrupt the peace of other citizens, and take laws into their own hands. They are expected to come to equity with clean hands.
