For three years running the fate of the leader of the Shiites, El Zakzaky, had been incarcerated by the federal government. He, like others, has remained in detention for alleged acts of terrorism and breach of the peace in Kaduna area.
Many critics aver that if they are allowed to carry out their acts of terrorism, they could jolly well become another Boko Haram which had kept the North East busy security-wise.
It is always dangerous for Shiites to be given a free hand when they are demonstrating that their leader had been detained for so long. They feel aggrieved and have often resorted to throwing missiles and sticks at the security forces, mostly soldiers, who respond with live bullets. There had been deaths in the past, apart from their recent outing in the periphery of Abuja where three Shiites were killed in cold blood.
The difference in this occasion was that it was Muslim to Muslim violence as opposed to Christians being attacked by the soldiers.
What keeps recurring in this dispensation is the absence of due process in many cases involving the liberty and freedom of citizens.
The courts are not allowed to sort out the messier sides of the law and the executive arm is keeping citizens under lock. For instance, Col Dasuki has remained under protective custody over his trumpeted 2.1billion dollars security votes which he allegedly distributed to many politicians in the name of a Presidential authorisation of former incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
As such, Having been granted bail by a Court of competent jurisdiction, government has refused bluntly to obey that court injunction, giving the impression that the crime was heinous and therefore could not be bailed.
The plight of the Shiites in Nigeria seem to be taking the same dimension, as they are facing a similar agony, considering that for the past three years, when the activities of the Shiites reached its peak in Kaduna, several hundreds of them were mowed down and buried in unmarked graves.
Tired of waiting on the government to do the needful by releasing their leader and his wife, they now assembled themselves for another marathon march in Abuja to register their displeasure against the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Security issues are too complex for laymen to grasp. Aside from the Shiites looming disaster waiting to happen, even the smallish looking governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, does not seem to help matters in his state as we hear of daily attacks by hoodlums on villages on the outskirts of the City of Kaduna, leading to bloodshed and burning down of towns and killing of a traditional ruler in the area.
It is difficult to separate the military antecedents of President Buhari from the religious insurgents like Boko Haram as well as the Shiites outbursts in many streets in Northern Nigeria.
Islam is credited as a religion of peace but its practitioners seem to get often involved in violent demonstrations and causing so much mayhem in many parts of the North.
Agreed, keeping the peace in the land is the primary responsibility of Mr. President, without curtailing the fundamental freedoms of its citizens. Religion being the opium of the people is one area of our existence which had defied law and order.
When soldiers are trained to fire and kill their targets, one expected the Police to handle the situation with rubber bullets. Nigerian troops had excelled in foreign Mission peace keeping engagements and had excelled in their various assignments abroad. Why are they suddenly becoming bloody at home while dealing with routine processions and demonstrations within the country?
Something must be basically wrong with the military Commanders in charge of these troops. Are they just rigger happy or they do not love their fellow countrymen? They seem to lack crowd control capabilities as part of their trainings or they deliberately like firing their live bullets into crowds on protests?
When every day one pint of blood of an innocent Nigerian is spilled, the stigma will rest on the head of the country’s leader. The bloody deaths in the Middle Belt zone continue to hunt the souls of many more people who appear to be awaiting death by installments in the hands of state terrorists- the Police and the Soldiers.
When the leadership of a country turns a blind eye on the excesses of his state operatives then the citizens become endangered.
It is rather strange that all the top Muslim leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto and Emir of Kano have kept sealed lips on this important El Zakzakky affair. Have they abandoned their religious brothers in the name of segregating each other’s Muslim sects? Are Shiites Muslims less than other Muslims in the country?
A religious harmony is a prerequisite for total harmony in the country. The less we prevent state security operatives from terrorising civilians on a peaceful protest, the better for peace in the land.
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