Investigate this assault

Weekend’s sordid events in Zaria, the second most important city in Kaduna State, left a very sour taste in the mouth for all Nigerian citizens and all those who value human life and peace. That what started as a minor confrontation between a religious sect and a military convoy over right of passage on a […]

Weekend’s sordid events in Zaria, the second most important city in Kaduna State, left a very sour taste in the mouth for all Nigerian citizens and all those who value human life and peace. That what started as a minor confrontation between a religious sect and a military convoy over right of passage on a road should snowball into a major operation leading to the loss of numerous lives and much property destruction is highly regrettable indeed.
From all accounts the trouble started when  the convoy ogf Chief of Army Staff, COAS,  Lt General Tukur Yusuf Buratai that was on its way to the graduation ceremony of the Army Depot in Zaria, ran into roadblocks mounted by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, better known as Shiites. The movement was holding a ceremony at their Hussainiyya Baqiyatullah site along the PZ to Samaru road and had blocked the highway.
Army officers pleaded with the members of the movement to allow the convoy to pass through but they refused.
For some unclear reason, the soldiers then opened fire and the Army Chief’s convoy forced its way through. Some reports say that 5 lives were lost at that scene. Director of Army Public Relations Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman later said in a statement that the Shiites tried to assassinate Buratai. He said the COAS was on his way to pay homage to the Emir of Zazzau and attend a passing out parade at the military school in the city when the Shiites attacked his convoy but were repelled by his security guards. Usman said the attackers in their hundreds used heavy stones to barricade the road and that they opened fire at the convoy.  He said, “The barricade was obviously a deliberate attempt to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff.”
The Shiites put out a statement on Saturday evening denying the Army’s version of events.  A member of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria’s Media Forum, Ibrahim Usman, said the Shiites never tried to assassinate Buratai and that they erected barricades on the road for reasons of traffic control and also “in view of the security situation in that kind of crowd.” He was referring to earlier events when a suicide bomber attacked the Shiites’ procession near Kano and killed many people.
Sordid though the events were up to that point, they got much worse later that night. On Saturday night teams of soldiers launched a coordinated attack on three prominent locations of the group: sect leader Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky’s residence at Gyellesu, Hussainiyya Baqiyatullah in the GRA, scene of the afternoon’s clashes, as well as another site just outside Zaria. City residents reported heavy gunfire that lasted all through the night and into the following morning.
By the time things calmed down, a lot of people had been killed, reportedly including Zakzaky’s wife Zeenatu Ibrahim, his son Sayid Ali, the movement’s deputy leader Sheikh Mohammed Turi, its medical director Dr. Mustapha as well as its spokesman, Ibrahim Usman. Although the overall casualty figure was not revealed by the authorities, city residents reported removing several corpses from various points in Zaria. As at yesterday, Al-Zakzaky’s whereabouts were not clear. While some said the army took him away after storming and demolishing his house, other reports said he managed to get away.
From all indications the army overreacted to a provocation. It is true that the authorities as well as most Zaria city residents were not happy with some of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria’s activities, especially its processions that tend to block highways and cause a lot of discomfort to other road users. Residents around the areas where the Shiites congregate have also become like prisoners whenever such events are held. The group have become a law unto themselves and other non Shiites have learnt to give them a wide berth.
The Shiite procession used to be once a year, the annual Quds Day to show solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli Occupation. Since then however, the processions have become more frequent and have added to citizens’ discomfort. Photos and videos posted by the movement on social media show that it has trained a militia, though unarmed. This clearly poses a threat to law and order and should not be permitted in Nigeria.
Yet, in a democratic dispensation such as we are living in, the authorities should have gone about persuading the movement to stop some of its practices that offend the law and social peace in a measured way. We expect those who break the law to be tried in courts rather than be summarily executed. Weekend’s events have almost exactly replicated the events of July 2009, the bungling of the operation to arrest Mohamed Yusuf which lit the fire of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Daily Trust calls for a full scale judicial inquiry into the Zaria events to include the National Human Rights Commission. The inquiry should not only establish exactly what happened in Zaria at the weekend but also why the military chose to mount an operation that led to the loss of so many civilian lives? It should also reflect on an earlier bloody incident involving the two sides earlier this year when over 2 dozen Shiites were killed. We are concerned that it may be the Shiites this past weekend but it could be anyone else tomorrow. Even before the inquiry begins, the Federal Government should take urgent steps to assure everyone that justice will be done to everyone affected by this bloodletting and destruction. The national assembly should ensure that nothing short of this happens.