Two members of
the Shiite movement were reportedly killed on Saturday as the group
tried to rebuild its school destroyed near Zango road, Tudun Wada in
Kaduna, witnesses said.
Ten other members were injured in the attack.
This has caused panic as many residents of Tudun Wada, Ungwan Muazu,
Kinkinau remained indoors. Those caught up along Nnamdi Azikwe way and
other streets scampered for safety.
Bala Zango, a shop owner along Zango Road, said the issue was getting
out of hand as hundreds of youth were advancing towards Ungwan Muazu to
hunt for Shiite members.
Ungwan Muazu is among the areas in Kaduna, where many Shiites reside.
“We heard that, two persons suspected to be members of the Shiite
were dead,” he said. “It’s very scary because at the end of the day,
it’s the innocent people that will fall victim.”
Some witnesses said Awwal Maikyau, the Special Adviser on Youth to
Governor Nasir El-Rufai, was attacked as he attempted to mediate.
“Awwal Yaro Maikyau, the Governors SA on youths whose house is close
to the scene of the incident, was also attacked while trying to mediate
between them and the irate youths,” a family member confirmed.
The Shiites said they were attacked as they tried to rebuild the sect’s school that was attacked on Tuesday.
“Some thugs came to attack us with weapons, insisting that we must be
evicted completely from the place,” one member told PREMIUM TIMES.
“Police arrived the scene and went with some of our members and some community members for settlement.
“As they left, 10 of our Shiite members were machete. It was rumoured
that one person died, but we are still making inquiries to confirm.
“This is the danger behind playing politics with religion,” the member said.
The police spokesperson, Aliyu Usman, told PREMIUM TIMES police monitoring the situation.
“Please be patient, we are monitoring the situation, we shall get back to you later,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Shia Islamic movement of Nigeria on Friday criticised
Gov. El Rufai for condemning attacks on its members, saying the governor
was behind the attacks and his stance was an afterthought.
In a statement signed by IMN’s president, Ibrahim Musa, the members
said the Kaduna State government was culpable of inciting the attacks
against them.
“Clearly, this is nothing but an afterthought. What happened in the
wake of our peaceful Ashura mourning procession was a carefully planned
plot, meticulously executed with all machinery of government. The
government had all along tried to give their brutal clampdown on Islamic
Movement in Nigeria (IMN) members a semblance of an altercation between
IMN and the masses.
“Kaduna state governor, Nasiru ElRufai alluded to this right from the
outset of the attacks in December, 2015 in his infamous state-wide
broadcast. His utterances and body language since then left no one in
doubt his disdain for IMN members. Using all the tools of governance at
his disposal, in private and openly, often in total disregard to reason,
sanity or law, he exhibited extreme hate for IMN,” they said.
The IMN said the decision of the Kaduna State government to outlaw its group was responsible for the attacks against them.
“As a fore-runner to the latest brutality, he issued an executive
order banning us from exercising our rights to practice our religion
with a threat to jail anyone who does up to seven years in his jail. For
daring to mention that his order is in clear violation of all known
sane laws of the land and beyond, he ordered the arrest and prosecution
of Ibrahim Musa, the President of the Media Forum. How then can El-Rufai
now shed crocodile tears having incited violence on a people through
his hate posture and actions against such people? They read the body
language of the government in their favour and acted based on that, and
with full support of all the instruments of governance over which he
presides.
“We have it on record how certain individuals and hate preachers took
to the media and the podium respectively calling on the masses to join
the government of El-Rufai in what they termed an “all-out war on Shia.”
The government and El-Rufai has neither refuted that nor call the
perpetrators to order or better still arrest and punish the culprits,
since they are well known and the actions were done in broad daylight.
Simply put, El-Rufai is very much culpable,” the group said.
It further said it will not retaliate the attacks but that it would seek redress in the courts of law.