Shi’ite Muslims abandon jumat worship in Katsina over Soldiers presence

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Shi’ites, yesterday stayed away from Jumat prayers in their Central Mosque in Katsina State over the presence of armed soldiers who enforced security surveillance in the area.

Following the development, the head of the Katsina center of the movement, Sheikh Yakub Yahya advised members of the group to stay away from the mosque and worship in their homes.

In a statement, Yakub said, “this has become necessary to avoid any possible destruction of lives and property which the government and its Army are bent on perpetrating on not only the Shi’ites but on all that would worship at the mosque.”

He added: “We advised our brothers to stay away from the mosque so that we can sit back and watch the extent of their mischief and devilish plan of killing every soul in the mosque, including children, whether Shi’ite or non-Shi’ite as revealed to us by reliable sources,” he said.

He recalled the soldiers-Shi-ites clash in December last year in Zaria, Kaduna State, alleging that government might “extend the killings to other places including Katsina.”