Acting national leader of Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, Sheik Yakubu Yahaya, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of being silent over the killing of several of its members last week in Zaria, Kaduna State.
Yahaya, who spoke to newsmen yesterday in Katsina State, also called for the immediate release of the movement’s head, Sheik Ibrahim El Zakzaky, along with the bodies of its members killed and those detained by the military.
He said President Buhari had refused to speak on the matter, despite the fact that more than 1,000 of its members were killed in Zaria, while over 300 were wounded and several others detained.
He said Buhari’s silence was tacit approval of the military action and wondered why such should be so, being that members of the group were carrying out a religious activity and were not disturbing the peace.
Yahaya said Buhari, whom he likened to the late Saddam Hussain of Iraq, was doing the bidding of his masters, who were carrying out the campaign of killing Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere.
He said the action taken by the military on members of the group last Saturday in Zaria was a deliberate attempt to destroy the movement and its members.
He wondered why the military should “open fire on our members just because there was an alleged blockage of a major road”, adding, “there was no time we blocked that road during our religious activities.”
He also dismissed claim by military authorities that members of the group had attempted to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.
He alleged of plans by the military to attack members of the movement in some parts of the country, adding that there were reports of military surveillance on their members as well as shooting of a procession by its members in Kaduna State yesterday.
He said groups agitating for a Biafran state and the militants in the Niger Delta struggling for resource control were not being harshly treated, but wondered why different approach would be meted on them by the federal government.
In a related development, Katsina State chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has paid condolence visit to the acting national leader of the movement.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the visit, the state CAN chairman, Rev Nelson Onyekachukwu, described the Zaria incident as unfortunate.
Onyekachukwu said it was ironic that soldiers that were supposed to be protecting the people were the ones shooting them, even as he prayed for such incident not to repeat itself in the country.
In another development, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching hospital, ABUTH, Zaria, said it received 61 bodies following the deadly clash between the military and members of IMN.
