AhlulBayt News Agency: The Date 12 December in Zaria, a historic city in Kaduna State, Nigeria, may have turned to ashes either a blood of valley.
December 12, 2015, remains a date etched in blood and sorrow for every humanists.
It was the beginning of a three-day horror that the world now knows as the Zaria Massacre brutal, disproportionate Nigeria military assault that saw over a thousand innocent lives, primarily the followers of Sheikh Zakzaky H. Who are violently and brutally extinguished.
This was not a battle; it was a carnage that tore at the very fabric of humanity.
The Nigerian Army, claiming an alleged assassination attempt on its Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai ordered and launched a massive and coordinated attack on the followers of Sheikh Zakzaky H.
What followed, according to numerous human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, was a horrifying display of excessive force and a profound violation of human rights.
The Agony of the lost souls (Martyrs),The numbers, though staggering, fail to capture the human cost.
As Estimated Over 1,000 victims, including men, women, and children, were killed.
Imagine the terror of that moment:
The children like 18-month-old El-Batoul Buhari Jega, killed alongside her parents.
They were not combatants; they were armless and helpless in an instant.
The families reports, indicate that nearly 100 families were wiped out entirely, during the massacre led by TY Buratai under the order of then President Muhammadu Buhari.
The voice of a father of batoul, Abubakar Zaki, still echoes with the regret of not being able to see the bodies of his three middle-aged daughters before they were secretly buried by the Nigerian Army, in order to cover-up their crimes against Humanity.
The brutal truth—witnesses recounted scenes of the injured being burned alive in a makeshift hospital, a harrowing testament to the cruelty unleashed.
The leader Sheikh Zakzaky H., was shot several times alongside his wife Ummah Zeenatu and later arrested witnessing the killing of their own remaining three biological sons.
Imagine, as a father witnessing a group of soldiers shooting your biological children's in your presence while you're helpless.
The aftermath was an attempt at concealment.
The Nigerian Officials later admitted to burying 347 bodies in a secret mass grave near Mando, denying families the basic human dignity of mourning their dead, a compounding trauma that has left the many scarred and heartbroken.
A Lingering Demand for Accountability
Years have passed, yet the scars remain raw because justice has been elusive and deniable to the victims.
The massacre raised urgent questions about the Nigerian military's rules of engagement and the sanctity of civilian life.
A state Judicial Commission of Inquiry was established, and its findings did indict the military for using "disproportionate and excessive force." on armless citizens.
However, despite these acknowledgments:
No senior military official has been prosecuted.
The bodies in the mass graves have not been exhumed and forensically examined to offer closure to the grieving families.
The culture of impunity where such crimes against unarmed civilians go unpunished threatens the foundation of democracy and trust in the state.
The bloodshed of Zaria Massacre are a powerful reminder that the true test of a nation's humanity lies not in its might, but in its ability to protect its most vulnerable citizens and hold power accountable.
The heart-wrenching tragedy of the Zaria massacre are not just a record of death; they are a timeless call for justice, a plea for the truth to be fully unearthed, and an insistence that the lives of the massacred martyrs will not be forgotten nor been forgiven.
Abdulrahman Bala Idris Gusau.
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