Leader of the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria, His Eminence, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky says, the Nigerian military after killing innocent people in Zaria at the recent Quds Day procession, are now on the defensive, and therefore spreading rumour that the “Shi’ites” were going to avenge the killing of their members.
He made the statement at the end of Nahjul Balagha study session at the Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, Zaria on Monday, the first since the Quds Day shootings.
The Nigerian military had after the Quds Day peaceful procession killed over 33 people, including 3 of Sheikh Zakzaky’s sons, while many were injured.
Sheikh Zakzaky said the military, having woefully failed in their plan, have stationed all their barracks on red alert to further unleash more violence and spill innocent blood.
“We will not be surprised if they decided to detonate bombs in their barracks, or even kill some of their own and say it is the “Shi’ites” taking revenge. They have been doing this all over in the name of Boko Haram”, he said.
He said, because they military was shamed before world, they realized that if they unleash further onslaught without justification they would be further condemned, they therefore decided to spread the rumour and as well commission and Lagos and Kaduna- based newspapers to fabricate a malicious story and attribute it to him.
“The reporter of the newspaper (National Daily) was not existent, but given the name Shehu Dawud. Then another newspaper (The Polity) carried the same story, word to word, but claimed ownership of the story by its anonymous correspondent. Neither of the two newspapers stated where I made the statement. We conducted a press conference here and was recorded; it was published and posted on the internet and YouTube, how could only a Lagos-based newspaper heard what the Al-Zakzaky said?”
Sheikh Zakzaky further stated that, the newspapers were sponsored and commissioned by the military to write the story, adding that fed with the international dimension of the incident in the story, which could only have come from government sources. “We are aware that the foreign Affairs Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran had summoned Nigerian ambassador to the country and expressed its dismay over the shooting of peaceful protester at the Quds Day procession, and the Nigerian ambassador promised that the issue would be investigated. This was on the news, we are all aware of it. What we were not aware of was that, other countries also expressed dismay over the issue. In the story, it is said that governments of Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, South Africa, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, etc. all expressed concern over the incident. This was not in the news, and therefore the public was not aware of it. It was a diplomatic affair that was not made public. For that to be in only one selected local media, proves that it came from government sources, and they used that to justify that these countries are backing our intention to embark on act of vengeance”.
He pointed out that, the military has clearly shown that it is still determined to spill innocent blood, and therefore sent out this message: “Yes, gun is all you have and possess. You have killed and you can kill again. But when it comes to writing with maturity and wisdom, you don’t have that, we have it. There is no wisdom in your speech; we have it. Sense of perception; we have it. You don’t have patience and perseverance; we have it. You don’t have integrity; we have it. You don’t possess the truth; the truth lies with us. Above all, you have no religion; we have the truth! The moment you use pen, your ignorance becomes obvious. As you speak, your foolishness surfaces. Allah has blessed us with maturity, wisdom, sense of perception, patience and perseverance, integrity, truth and the true religion. ”
Sheikh Zakzaky said, the foolishness of the military could be seen in the memo sent out by one of their commandant (Brigadier General B.A. Fiboiumama) to Nigerian Army HQ DIV1 which stated the soldiers engaged the “Shi’ites sect” in an exchange of fire that resulted in the death of 10 people on the “enemy” side, injured 2, captured an ambulance as booty, but could not capture “prisoners of war”!. Nil death or injury were recorded, no “prisoner of war” captured on the military side.
He stated that, he has received an invitation from the committee set up by military under one Colonel Benjamin to investigation what led to the “gun battle between the Shi’a sect and the Nigerian military”, describing it as ridiculous. “From this you can see their foolishness, they have already established that it was a gun battle.”
“For your information, Shi’a is not a military group. It is a religious belief that cuts across sections of the society. I cannot comprehend soldiers fighting a religious sect; can you imagine, for instance, soldiers fighting a Christian sect? Why call us a sect? I have never believed there is a sect in religion.”
Sheikh Zakzaky added that, what happened was that soldiers opened fire on peaceful protesters in broad daylight and killed 19 people on the spot, took 14 to the barrack and tortured them to death. “Yet, they call it a war between them and a people of certain religious inclination. It is incomprehensible to imagine soldiers engaging in war with people profession certain religion, which could be found even among their people.”
He dismissed the military probe panel as a waste of time, as it had already concluded that it was a gun battle saying that, they should have been busy covering their act of shame. “They should know that, they can never convince the world that what they did was right and justifiable.”
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