El-Zakzaky: Do we have another Boko Haram ahead?

In from Timothy Enietan-Matthews . . .
The clash between Nigerian soldiers and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, popularly known as Shi’ite Movement on Saturday the 12th of October was not the first in the history of the Islamic group in Nigeria or in recent times. The sect and its leader, Shiekh Ibrahim El-zakzaky have a long history of confrontations, sometimes violent with the authorities.

These confrontations culminated in the killing of three of his sons and 32 other sect members in 2014. There was outrage and different accounts of whatever led to the mayhem and who the provocateur was. Somehow, the nation managed to brush the incident aside, as nothing evil happened and nothing was done by the then Federal Government to get to the root of the clash.

However, the latest incident of Saturday and the subsequent reported invasion of the movement’s compound in Zaria, seem to have raised the bar and called to question the real motives behind the constant clash between the Shia Muslims and the security agencies.

The official military account was that seven people lost their lives in the clash, but hospital accounts and that of the sect say no fewer than 60 were killed in the clash, raising fears that the true account of the clash may have been deliberately hidden by the Army.

It will be recalled that days earlier, a procession of some of the sect members from Kano was attacked by a suicide bomber as they made their way to Zaria for their yearly festival. Lives were lost, just as it happened in similar suicide bombings on their processions in times past.

The constant clash with the military and paramilitary forces, especially the police, and suicide bombing attacks on the sect have thrown up members of the sect as endangered species and presently drawing parallel between it and the now very violent Boko Haram sect.

Nigerians will recall that the Boko Haram sect under late Mohammed Yusuf started as a non-violent group, preaching radical Islamic ideologies, including condemning western education. And because of the large following the sect attracted, political leaders in Borno State, it was alleged, secured their services to win election in the state and actually rewarded the sect with a commissioner slot, as one of them was given the position of Commissioner for Religious Affairs.

However, things turned awry and violent when the state government reneged on some of the agreements reached with the sect, especially implementing a strict code of the Sharia. This led to clashes between the sect and security forces for days, as Maiduguri was turned into a theatre of war.

The arrest and extra judicial killing of sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf, changed the sect from a radical Islamic ideology sect to the terrorist group it is today.
It is instructive to note that the same scenario that led to the transformation of the Boko Haram into a violent group are currently being repeated with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, raising fears that another violent group may be in the offing.

Among factors that gave impetus to the Boko Haram sect under Yusuf and threw it up as influencers was the use of the group by politicians, who made use of their number to achieve political goals. The same scenario is also currently playing out with the Shi’ite group.

Before the 2015 general elections, the present governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el’Rufai, then in the opposition, was reported to have blasted the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for cracking down on the group. Himself, and other contestants in that election had sought the support of the sect members to win the election.
Now with the latest incident, El’rufai was reported to have this time made a turn-around, by insisting that Sheikh El-Zakzaky must be prosecuted.

El-Rufai made his position known shortly after the Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima read a communiqué proffering solutions to the clash and other crises in the north.

On his part, Governor Shettima said the forum was out to curtail similar incidence which brought about the dreaded Boko Haram sect, “because the issue has to do with an Islamic group that has membership across the nineteen states in the north and beyond.”

The forum chairman explained that: “We already have the serious problems of Boko Haram to contend with. We are not in any way comparing the Islamic Movement with Boko Haram, no! But we don’t want the same mistake that happened over the Boko Haram crisis to repeat itself.”

Shettima noted that when Boko Haram went wild in July, 2009 with clashes between them and the police in Maiduguri, most Nigerians saw the issues as the problems of Bauchi and Borno. When they continued to attack in Borno and Yobe, it became the affairs of Borno and Yobe states, But then there was a suicide attack in Abuja in 2012 and then everything went out of control.

Read also: Zaria: We killed 7, Army says as Sultan calls for probe

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, while calling for a probe into the latest clash between the group, and the military said, “As you are aware, these clashes are not new but it is getting worse now and it does not augur well for the nation”.

Abubakar in a statement, signed by Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, said at a time Nigeria is facing serious problems, the least expected is a conflict between the military and Shi’ites.‎

The statement read in part, that “The history of the circumstances that engendered the outbreak of militant insurgency in the past, with cataclysmic consequences that Nigeria is yet to recover from, should not be allowed to repeat itself.”

With the way the Shia sect leader, El-zakzaky was brutalized and arrested, with uncertainty over his where about or whether he is alive or dead, and the reported death of Sheik Muhammad Turi, the second-in-command to Zakzaky, and the group’s spokesperson, Ibrahim Usman, it is not certain if the followers will not turn the way of Boko Haram.

It should be noted that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, if it decides to go the way of Boko Haram, will be more deadly, organised and effective. This is because Sheikh el-Zakzaky, despite his constant brushes with the law, has been known to increase membership phenomenally, with many intellectuals, brilliant students and graduates flocking into the group.

With a membership put at about 10 million spread all over the country, the scale of security threat the sect poses, if they are to transform can only be imagined!
Many are of the view that government has a responsibility to immediately move to tackle the immediate fallout from the December 12 clash, ensure that nothing untoward happens to El-Zakzaky and find a lasting solution to the constant clashes.

The current deafening silence of the Federal Government, especially President Muhammadu Buhari on the incident has not helped things and that the earlier he speaks with soothing words to the sect, the better for northern part and the nation at large.

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