31st December, 2015
An Islamic group, Media Forum of the Islamic Movement, has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari’s stance on the Zaria massacre of Shiites, saying the President shouldn’t wait for Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and the army before taking action.
The group in a statement signed by Ibrahim Musa, its president, said: “It is now over two weeks since the Nigerian Army launched a coordinated brutal attack on members of Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, that killed hundreds according to some Western sources. But some sources even said more than a thousand people were killed by the Nigerian Army in the Zaria massacre. The Nigerian President Buhari has been silent on the massacre until his yesterday’s Presidential media chat.
“The Nigerian President claimed they showed him a clip based on which he passed his judgement. Did he ask those who showed him that propaganda video why those protesting youths were angry? What happened to the Natural Laws of “Action and Reaction”? The protesting youths were angry because the Nigerian Army killed their friends and brothers. They killed them as if they were flies. That video clip was after the first round of killing by the Nigerian Army.”
The group further said: “The claim by the Nigerian President that he will wait for the report of the Kaduna State Government before commenting on the Zaria massacre is mischievous to say the least. The Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has already declared and made public his stance and condemned IMN and even desecrated the grave of the mother of his Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky. How can IMN get justice from such a person?
“By these, even though the president is commander in chief of the armed forces of the federal republic, there is no effective civilian control over the military enshrined in the constitution or any other law of the country.
“Based on the insensitivity shown by the president, how could the IMN expect any justice from the government? The Kaduna state governor who had played a major role in the massacre and destruction of properties in Zaria had since declared that the leader of the Movement was going to be prosecuted even before announcing the members of his committee of enquiry.”
The group wondered how Buhari expects to take a stand on the issue after the culprits including the Army and Kaduna state government have conducted an investigation into an issue they were active party to by making them a judge in their own case.
“They killed over one thousand defenceless Nigerians and think they can bury the evidence and cover the facts of their crimes. Their Western and Israeli masters gave them a false intelligence that IMN have stockpile of weapons. They killed people and found nothing, and they now want to prosecute those in detention. Some of those in detention have had their family members killed by the Nigerian Army in the Zaria massacre and now they want to drag them to court using trump-up charges. Since when last has the world seen such brutal oppression?
“Yet, despite the reprehensible and indefensible actions of the army commanders in Zaria, the president has refused to show any remorse for what was undoubtedly a war crime against fellow Nigerians and is not willing to prosecute the officers and military personnel that were involved in the butchery, instead the homes of the victims have been burnt to the ground in Zaria and their graves and burial sites have been dug up and desecrated.
“We therefore demand that instead of the President to wait for the Kaduna state government and the army to tender their submissions to him, he should set up a powerful independent judicial commission of inquiry that include people of integrity and human right activists. It is only then that justice might be done to the Zaria massacre of December 12 and 13,” the group said.