The President had in his speech to mark
Democracy Day touched on virtually all the challenges his administration faced in
its one year in office. He however refused to make mention of the monumental
disaster that visited the nation on 12-12-15, when our national Army massacred
1000+ armless and defenseless citizens in Zaria, who are members of the Islamic
Movement (IMN). An event that the world was officially told involved a secret
mass open shallow grave dug by the Army in collaboration with Kaduna state
government containing 347 bodies, in an attempt to hide their heinous crime.
How the President could still remain silent in spite of the mass outcry by
respected individuals and groups over this gross miscarriage of justice still
beats imagination.
More so, in utter disregard to law
and order the Nigerian government abducted the revered leader of the Movement
his Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky after several shots were fired at him and
his wife, killing three of his sons, setting ablaze some compounds in his house
thereby burning some people alive including his sister.
Since his abduction, the leader of
IMN has been kept illegally in detention without trial or any court charge
along with hundreds of other IMN members. It remains shocking and unbelievable
how the President could still remain silent about this miscarriage of justice
in Nigeria while democracy is said to be commemorated after one year in office
disregarding outcries by governments, groups and individuals calling for
fairness and justice.
Soon after the wicked incident, IMN
published a list of nearly 800 missing people. The gravity of this wanton
destruction of lives and property witnessed in Zaria and the use of most
inhumane treatment of citizens by an army paid to defend them made a respected
clergyman to call for days of national mourning to be declared. The offences
committed by the army in Zaria were grave, relating to crimes against humanity
as revealed by subsequent confessional statements and disclosures by reports of
international human rights groups. There is simply no more room for excuses.
The President can no longer feign ignorance. We therefore reject the continued
silence of the President on the Zaria massacre.
There is still so much left to be done. The
identity of those buried in the mass shallow open grave need to be ascertained
through various scientific methods so that their relatives can give them a
proper burial. Those still in various military and DSS facilities across the
country need to be released without further delay. The close to 1300 orphans
and over a hundred newborns delivered to the detainees would have to be told
about the fate of their parents. Even if the President chooses to keep silent
over what happened in Zaria for now, these orphans and babies will surely
demand for justice to be done in the near future.
We therefore call on the Buhari government to
come out publicly and admit its failure to address its military’s crimes
against humanity in Zaria and to outline measures to correct this anomaly,
starting from the release of our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky from the
illegal detention it placed him.
Signed:
Ibrahim Musa
President
Media Forum Of The Islamic Movement In
Nigeria
0805 078 6093
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