Shiites Clash Again With Police in Abuja

Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), again on Thursday morning engaged the police in another face-off at the federal secretariat while embarking on a protest to demand the release of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The protest by the members of the sect forced the police to fire teargas carnisters which led to commotion as people ran in different directions to escape from the troubled spot.

However, following the invasion of the National Assembly complex by Shiites on Tuesday which reportedly led to the death of a police man and destruction of vehicles, the Coalition for Nigeria Movement has called for an end to the violent activities of the group.

The convener of the group, Mr. Gabriel Tyonongo, while addressing a press conference Thursday described the attack on police by members of IMN as height of barbarism, and unpatriotic.

To this end, he called on the federal government to take a decisive action against the sect before it snowballs into another dreaded sect like the Boko Haram sect.

Tyonongo: “We understand that the attack on parliament was a trial run as the sect only used the weapons they were able to snatch from policemen on the scene. There are feelers that the group will launch more attacks using weapons.

“The nation’s law-enforcement agencies are therefore urged not to allow themselves to be caught unaware by the sects. The coming days will be critical as they battle a group that sees nothing good in Nigeria. 

Nigerians must see it as their responsibility to expose the lies of IMN and to the reign of terror that the group wants to unleash on the land.”

The coalition said it had reasonable cause to believe that the group’s long running battle and lies against the Nigerian military was a build up to Tuesday’s attack, adding that the strategy was to demonise the military to a point where public opinion will force troops to ignore IMN even at their worst.