El-Zakzaky: Shiites Denies Suspending Protests

The Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria has denied media reports that it has suspended protest marches over the detention of its leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The group said in a statement on Friday that a statement signed by the president of its media forum, Ibrahim Musa, that gave that indication was not agreed to by all the members.

In another statement, signed by Abdullahi Mohammed, secretary of the IMN academic forum, the group called on the public to regard future statements from Mr Musa with scepticism.

“On the 31st day of July 2019 a press statement titled ‘We Are Temporarily Suspending Our Street Protests’ and signed by Malam Ibrahim Musa, President of the Media Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, went viral. The article was published and aired by numerous media outlets, both local and international.

“In the statement, it was written that “this was mainly to create openings into the resolution of problems, especially the court case instituted by our lawyers on the proscription order by the federal government this week.” It further claimed that “if at all any protests occurred anywhere in the country, it might be that this notice hasn’t reached those in the field or this message is misunderstood or it is some security agents who are behind it.”

“First of all, we would like to state for the record that apart from members of the media forum none of us was informed of this prior to seeing it in the papers and online. Secondly, the media forum of the Islamic Movement is supposed to consist of Press men and thus has no involvement in the organizing of our ceremonies, our protests or legal activities among others. Thirdly, no decision of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria has ever been communicated on the page of a newspaper.”

The IMN said it decided to continue with its protest because the proscription order was not sufficient to outlaw the group, since it has not been backed by a pronouncement from the National Assembly.

“Contrary to what the statement may insinuate; it is important to note that the proscription order was not an act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but rather from some Federal High Court in the capital Abuja.

“Bear in mind that courts do not make laws, the National Assembly does; and there is a process involved. Under the Constitution even the president lacks the legal authority to simply pronounce edicts into law; Nigeria is not an absolute monarchy. Most preeminently, the right to protest peacefully is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution. Impunity is not.”

According to the statement, the IMN members said they decided to investigate the source of the statement before deciding on whether to comply with its directive or disregard the statement.

“In the aftermath of the publication of this unfortunately misleading statement, we subsequently tried to investigate the source of this frankly confusing document. We have consulted extensively with fellow followers of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky on this matter.

“Our only conclusion is that this whole affair was a combination of misinformation, miscommunication, human error and other significant factors.

“Here in Abuja, we are legally protesting the illegal detention of our leader and his wife. By doing this for our leader, we are also legally protesting against all forms of illegal detention, extrajudicial killings, among numerous other illegal perpetrations of injustice, by this current administration.

“The statement signed by Malam Ibrahim Musa of the media forum does not, in any way, reflect the beliefs and convictions of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. A single representative of a Forum within the Islamic Movement has no authority to single-handedly dictate his opinion on every one of us. Only our leader Sheikh Zakzaky may do that.”

The group, therefore, said it would continue its protest which they described as peaceful.

“For this reason, we are compelled to caution the media to never treat, any further, such explicit declarations by any member of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in general, and Ibrahim Musa in particular, without a grain of salt. We wish to also explicitly state that we are fully determined to continue our protests.

“We shall continue our peaceful protests, uninterrupted and unhindered till our leader Sheikh Zakzaky is free, for as long as it takes, regardless of obstacles. Until Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky is Free, our protests will continue.”

 

 

(NAN)