- Accuses UN of keeping silent over “atrocities” against its members
The Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) on Tuesday cautioned the United Nations Department of Safety and Security office in Abuja “over a malicious statement it issued on 05/10/2021 to its workers in particular and the public in general over a purported seven-day planned mass protest which never occurred.”
Spokesperson of the IMN, Ibrahim Musa, said in a statement that “the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has no plans for any 7-day protest that was supposed to have started a week ago! The fact that it hasn’t taken place is a clear indication that it only existed in the imagination of those who concocted the false report.”
It therefore enjoined the UN body to contact it next time it receives any security report that concerns the Islamic Movement, lamenting that “it is disheartening to see such a hate speech and phobia being peddled by the UN’s department of safety and security. Had it been the report was like many before it, we wouldn’t have reacted to it, because we know such reports emanate from security agencies bent on defrauding the nation of its scarce resources in the name of containing an imminent danger. We hope next time when such a blatant lie reaches the UN office, it will contact the Islamic Movement for clarification.”
Concluding, the Islamic Movement reminded the United Nations that the federal government has denied its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife their right to seek medical attention abroad and demands that it takes action.
Said the group, “we will like to use this opportunity to call on the international community to put pressure on the Buhari regime that perpetrated genocide in Zaria to release the passports of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife, so that they can travel abroad for proper medical treatment which they have held even as they have been declared not guilty by both the Federal and the State High Courts in Nigeria. No Nigerian leader patronizes medical tourism like Buhari, then why is he denying other citizens proper medical treatment abroad?” according to the press statement.
Below is the full Press Statement titled: ‘The United Nations should be wary of false and concocted security reports about the Islamic Movement in Nigeria,’ “The attention of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria has been drawn to a security advisory report of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), Abuja Nigeria/Africa Section/DRO that fraudulently claimed that the Islamic Movement in Nigeria will stage 7-day protest in Abuja starting from 6th October in protest to the recent Arbaeen Walk massacre. Surprisingly the report was given a score of A1 in terms of source reliability and info accuracy by the UN body.
“We would like to categorically declare that the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky has no plans for any 7-day protest that was supposed to have started a week ago! The fact that it hasn’t taken place is a clear indication that it only existed in the imagination of those who concocted the false report.
“Instead of this campaign of calumny and demonization by this UN agency, the UN Secretary-General should have asked the Buhari regime to release the seven (7) dead bodies to their families of the unarmed Shia civilians that were murdered by the Nigerian army and police in Abuja during the symbolic Arbaeen walk last month. The Arbaeen walk is an annual peaceful event that takes place in commemoration of the 40th day remembrance of the murder of Imam Husain AS, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad SAWA.
“It is unfortunate that a world body like the UN will be misled by a false report, while at the same time it hasn’t done anything in respect to 347 extra judicially killed by the Nigerian army unlawfully and dumped in a Mass grave in 2015 as admitted by Kaduna state government of Kaduna, Nigeria under Governor Nasiru Elrufai.
“Also the UN hasn’t said anything about the enforced disappearance of hundreds of persons since the Zaria massacre for almost six years, let alone talk about the plight of over 60 persons unlawfully detained at Kuje prisons since July 2019 with various degree of gunshots and wounds, who were arrested after a free Zakzaky protest in Abuja.
“It is disheartening to see such a hate speech and phobia being peddled by the UN’s department of safety and security. Had it been the report was like many before it, we wouldn’t have reacted to it, because we know such reports emanate from security agencies bent on defrauding the nation of its scarce resources in the name of containing an imminent danger. We hope next time when such a blatant lie reaches the UN office, it will contact the Islamic Movement for clarification.
“We will like to use this opportunity to call on the international community to put pressure on the Buhari regime that perpetrated genocide in Zaria to release the passports of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife, so that they can travel abroad for proper medical treatment which they have held even as they have been declared not guilty by both the Federal and the State High Courts in Nigeria. No Nigerian leader patronizes medical tourism like Buhari, then why is he denying other citizens proper medical treatment abroad?”