Youths who robbed our dead members disappointed us more than soldiers — Shi’ite member

MANY have described last Saturday’s clash between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, otherwise known as the Shi’ite sect, and men of the Nigerian Army as an avoidable crisis. While some said the Chief of Army Staff ought to have changed his route to avoid the Shi’ite protesters, others said the Shi’ite members should have allowed the Army boss to pass.

Be it as it may, the situation degenerated into a bloody clash between some soldiers and members of the Islamic group. The military explained that its action was meant to defend the Chief of Army Staff, who it said was the target of what it described as an assassination attempt. The Shi’ite group, on its part, saw the army’s action as premeditated genocide attack on them.

It was reported that about 10 Shi’ite members were killed that Saturday afternoon before heavy fighting broke out late in the night until the early hours of Sunday between men of the army and members of the Islamic movement of Nigeria also known as Shiite, following the surrounding of the house of leader of the movement, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, by troops.

The Nation gathered that the troops returned to El-Zakzaky’s residence in Gyallesu area of Zaria at about 11pm on that day to whisk their leader away. It was gathered that moves by the troops to arrest the leader of the movement were resisted by members. Residents of the area said heavy gunfire accompanied with chants by members of the movement were heard in the area for more than two hours in the night.

But a security source said the troops were there to forestall what would have been a public disturbance the following day. He said there was a report to the effect that members of the Shi’ite sect had been mobilised from other states to protest what happened on Saturday, and their plan was to descend on innocent members of the public and cause destructions of public propert

The military officer said the Army does not act irrationally without any intelligence information.

But a member of the group, Mallam Abdullahi Usman, told our correspondent in Zaria that they thought they had seen worst of the military on that Saturday, not knowing they wåould come on a fresh attack later in the night.

Usman said: “Having heard what happened in the afternoon, our brothers from other places like Kaduna and Kano came to visit our Sheikh, Sayyid Ibraheem Zakzaky. As for me, I live in Zaria, but I had already relocated to Hussainiya Baqiyya ahead of the Maolid that we were preparing for.

“We were there, busy receiving our brothers from other cities. In fact, I could not sleep on time because of that. Later, when I got to sleep around 12 midnight, my sleep was suddenly interrupted by sound of gunshots. When I heard the first few gunshots, I thought it was security men that were on patrol. But when it continued at close range, I realised that there was trouble.

“Let me tell you that what the military told the public, that there was exchange of fire with the sect members, was false. Because even me, I was nearly killed. I slept among my dead brothers, pretending to have been hit by the soldiers’ bullets too.

“Let me tell you, I cannot even say this is the number of brothers that the soldiers killed. They were so many. After lying down in the midst of the corpses of other brothers for hours, I became psychologically traumatised seeing soldiers killing unarmed citizens.

“I don’t even know how I escaped from the scene after the soldiers had gone with Sheik (leader of the sect, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky).”

Another member of the movement, Abdulmumin Giwa, told The Nation that residents of Zaria did worse than the soldiers who killed their brothers.

He said: “We are consoled by the fact that our brothers who were killed by soldiers died as martyrs, and by Allah’s grace, paradise is their abode. But, residents of Zaria, particularly those around the area displayed lack of fear of God.

“While our brothers were lying in the pool of their own blood, some youths resident in the area went there not on a mission to rescue the injured but to rob the dead. This is not something hidden. The video of how people robbed our dead colleagues has gone viral on the social media, particularly Facebook. This shows that there is no sympathy for the dead any longer.

“Mind you, these are the people who live around the scene of the attack. They heard everything that transpired between our brothers and the soldiers. This is not even someone who died of a natural cause. They were killed by soldiers and some people did not even feel sorry for them. Instead, they were robbing them.

“In fact, they were fighting themselves over the money, mobile phones and other valuables stolen from corpses of their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. This is even worse than the action of the soldiers who killed them. It is an indication that if those people had guns too, they won’t mind killing people to take their property.”

When our correspondent visited Zaria on Wednesday, roads to El-Zakzaky’s residence in Gyallesu and the Hussainiyya remained blocked by soldiers, who also refused journalists access to the scenes.

But Giwa alleged that troops had on Sunday morning set part of their leader’s residence ablaze and went back to level it to the ground after his (El-Zakzaky’s) arrest.

In another development, Islamic Movement of Nigeria alleged that their members in the custodies of the army and the police were dying from absence of medical attention.

The sect had stated categorically that one of its detained members had died after he was refused medical attention at the Gabasawa Police Station in Kaduna.

A statement signed by the President, Media Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim Musa, and made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Thursday, reads: “It has come to the notice of the movement that severely injured persons in detention, including women and children, has been left without medical attention since last Saturday and this has aggravated their conditions.

“Presently, one of such detained members of the movement has died as a result of being refused medical attention at the Gabasawa police station in Kaduna.

“There are many other members of the Movement facing the same calamity at the Operation Yaki Station along Constitution Road, Kaduna, with another three hundred women in custody at Jaji Cantonment, apart from those detained in army barracks across Zaria.”

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