THE news of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky’s acquittal by the Kaduna State High Court and his subsequent release was received by people in different ways. While IMN adherents and some other self-proclaimed human rights and justice advocates welcomed the news with felicity, others who are mainly former victims of El-Zakzaky’s IMN’s terror and people in ground zero(Gyallesu community and Zaria at large) received the news with mixed feelings. In 2018, I wrote a treatise which compared the rise of Shi’ite authority in both Iran and Nigeria. The article dissected the events that predated the 1979 Iranian Revolution and also the events that saw to the rise of IMN as an outlawed organisation under Nigerian authority up till the events of December 2015. The article, having established some aligning points between the Iranian and Nigerian events, concluded that IMN might be testing grounds for the feasibility of a replication of the Iranian-like revolution in Nigeria. It also called on the government to pursue the case rigorously, leaving no loophole, that could attract undue sympathy or propaganda to falsely portray El-Zakzaky’s supposed innocence, especially in circumstances where he is not.
Sadly, the government did not do well in that regard. Its mismanagement of the situation, especially in terms of inadequate mass communication, gave room for the rise to eminence of many misconstrued, misrepresented and misleading information and analysis usually brought forth by IMN supporters, apologists and IMN-friendly international media, which lent credence to the campaign that sought to portray his innocence. Such information and analysis eventually overshadowed the many civil testimonies of atrocities meted upon the people by IMN members. Such biased reports painted ElZakzaky as a saint and a revered philanthropist and his organization IMN as a non-violent congregation of Shiite Muslims being persecuted for the sole reason of being shi’ite, a case for minority persecution. The government at a point in time lost its grip on the narrative which became largely one-sided and this portrayed the government in a very bad image to the not well informed Nigerians and the international community.
For example, hardly do you hear from those prevailing narratives the fact that El-Zakzaky was arrested by various Heads of State during their regimes, from Shagari to Buhari to IBB to Abacha and finally Buhari again. Most of such arrests were usually accompanied by charges, including those of sedition and treason as in the arrest of 1996. Moreover, the prevailing biased narratives peddled by those that side with the IMN usually conceal the fact the IMN does not recognise the Nigerian State and other symbols that proves its sovereign authority (including the constitution, national anthem etc) and its first point of allegiance is the Iranian theocracy modeled around the doctrines of Wilayatul Faqih(The Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) and that their major ideological objective is the creation of an Islamic State.
These narratives which were left largely without befitting factual counters also almost completely clouded the IMN’s culpability (especially its para-military arm called the “HURRAHS”) in defiance of the rule of law and constituted authority, as in the many cases of violence against the populace, some of which led to death (including that of a police officer at some point) and major injuries; violent attacks on members of other sects; forceful annexation of mosques that belong to other sects; building on lands without statutory title and building permits; infringement of human rights and freedoms especially of movement during their various annual processions; illegal mounting of roadblocks and checkpoints leading to tremendous inconveniences etc.
Their defiant tendencies at a point in time saw to their metamorphosis into full outlaws capable of attacking convoys of first class chiefs like the Emir of Zazzau and blocking a state governor’s convoy from accessing the streets of El-Zakzaky’s host community, Gyallesu. People do not also know that IMN operated for more than four decades without duly registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC), which is in absolute contravention with the Company and Allied Matters Act(CAMA). Various sources have submitted that the IMN is a huge beneficiary of financial support from international entities, especially those of Iranian extraction. However, due the fact that as an organization that is non registered, IMN does not have an official bank account it is usually hard to trace financial flows both from within and outside Nigeria. Connections to international organisations, some of which have a reputation for terrorism and are captured in the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations(FTO) like Hezbollah have been established by some sources.
These and many more form the other side of the story but hardly did the government and other victims make sustained efforts in providing counter-narratives to the prevailing one-sided narrative portrayed by IMN and its apologists. The bloody December 2015 event was a sad event which resulted in the death of almost 350 people. The fracas happened as a result of some group’s efforts to prevent the convoy of the then Chief of Army Staff Lt. General Buratai from passing through a road that led to Depot Nigeria Army. It could be seen in the widely circulated video that the then Nigeria Army PRO embarked on an on-the-spot dialogue with this random IMN group, begging them in the name of God to clear the road for the passage of the COAS but they never considered. Even phone calls to the IMN leader Elzakzaky to persuade his followers to remove the blockade proved abortive. The NA claimed the situation reached a threatening extent, especially to the safety of the COAS, and they “shot their way”, killing seven people and injuring 10 people on the spot as revealed by the then acting Provost Marshal.
The prevailing narrative suggests in some quarters that the killing of almost all the 347 people happened immediately and in reaction the convoy blockage scenario. However, there seems to be omission of some facts. It was not until after a threat assessment and aggregation of intelligence reports (of influx of IMN members from all over the country into Zaria and other factors which have not be declassified) was done that the General Officer Commanding Div 1 gave a “Cordon & Search order” which as submitted by the Nigeria Army was necessitated by the threat level. Weapons including IEDs were confiscated from the IMN members according some reports. While the call for counter-narratives have continued to take shape, the news that fresh charges(of terrorism and treasonable felony) have been filed against Elzakzaky have sparked mixed feelings as well! It is our hope that justice(for all) and sustainable peace prevails.
- Ringim, a political/public affairs analyst, writes in from Zaria, Kaduna State, via haleemabdul1999@gmail.com.
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