President Muhammadu Buhari is being accused of knowing about the crackdown on Shiites in Zaria by the Army between December 12 and 14, 2015.
The accusation was made by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria who claimed that about 1,000 of its members were killed in the clampdown by soldiers. Kaduna State government insisted it buried only 347 corpses in a mass grave in Kaduna.
The Kaduna State government on the other hand, insist that only 347 corpses were buried in a mass grave in Kaduna.
The group also claim that this is not Buhari’s first act of wickedness to its leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, they claim that between 1984 and 1985 while head of state, Buhari also had Zakzaky detained at Alagbon for close to 18 months.
Abdulraham Yola, the Chairman of Free Zakzaky Campaign Committee of IMN, claimed Buhari had accused the group of forming a parallel government.
He said: “It was the clearest indication that the President was not only briefed, he sanctioned and ordered it.”
“The governor (Nasir el-Rufa of Kaduna State) similarly levelled the same allegation during his state broadcast on the incident when he said ‘Government also received reports that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria acted like a parallel state, with total disdain for the formal structures of the Nigerian government’.
“Neither Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky nor any of IMN members has ever renounced their citizenship of Nigeria. They hold Nigerian passports as bonafide citizens. IMN has not claimed any part of the country as its territory. It does not have its own anthem, flag or currency.
“Many members of the IMN are tax payers and IMN-owned groups or associations are registered with relevant Nigerian regulatory bodies.
“Furthermore, IMN always resorted to law to seek redress whenever they felt aggrieved. Clearly, all these do not suggest a parallel state with total disdain for formal structures.”