Police planning to attack our procession, IMN cries out

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) on Monday cried out that Nigeria Police Force is planning to attack its Ashura mourning procession holding on Tuesday in Abuja and other cities in the North.

The Shi’ites said that they had credible information that the force “will employ an extrajudicial approach to assault, arrest or kill whoever participates in the religious event.”

The Ashura procession is an annual religious ritual carried out by the Shia Islamic sect all over the world.

The IMN stated this on Monday in Abuja in a statement by a member of the Academic Forum of the group, Abdullahi Musa, calling on religious leaders, Civil Society Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, the international community, journalists and the public to monitor the conduct of the procession “in order to expose those that are so desperate to cause violence for a pittance.”

It would be recalled that the police through its spokesman, Frank Mba, had threatened in a statement on Monday that the procession by the Shi’ites will be treated as a “gathering in the advancement of terrorism.”

But the Shi’ites in their statement said the Ashura procession was one of their religious rights which they would not allow the police to deprive them of.

It read: “A reliable piece of information reaching us disclosed that the Nigeria Police are all set to assail the upcoming processional march across the country.

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“Preparatory to this, the source also confirmed, police will employ extrajudicial approach to assault, arrest or kill whoever participates in the religious event.”

According to Musa, the procession was held last year and ended peacefully, noting that the police were prepared to disrupt the one holding on Tuesday.

Musa added: “It is worthy of note that we are Muslims, and Ashura procession in mourning is one of our religious rights. We cannot afford to allow politicians, pseudo-politicians as well as the police to deprive us of our rights to freedom of thought and religion.”

The group alleged that the police were still detaining more than 60 ‘Free-Zakzaky protesters’ among whom were young ladies and minors with life-threatening injuries since July 22 without proper medical attention, describing this as a flagrant violation of their fundamental rights.

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