Shiites allege plan by military to clamp down on members

Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), also known as Shiites, yesterday accused the military of making attempts to clamp down on the group in Katsina State.

The group said that: “Reports from Katsina today (Wednesday) indicated that the Nigerian Army is amassing troops in an attempt to clampdown on the Islamic Movement in the town.”

A statement by the spokesman of the group, Mallam Ibrahim Musa, said that: “Early in the morning armed troops were seen surrounding the main Juma’at mosque, where a peaceful maulud procession of the daughter of the prophet, Nana Fatima (AS) was scheduled to take off.

“Seeing this and due to the peaceful disposition of the Islamic Movement, the venue of this yearly event was changed to another neighbourhood of the town, and the procession went round some major streets of the town and ended without any incident.”

He added that: “However, to our consternation, reinforcement was brought from neighbouring formations of the army, and roadblocks were mounted on almost all the major roads leading to Katsina city.”

Musa continued: “We have been reliably informed that the army is set to replicate the wanton destruction of lives and property it carried out in Zaria last December. The army it seems has vowed to attack the Markaz Islamic Centre in the town any moment from now, possibly kill all its occupants and raze it to the ground, just as it did to Husainiyya Islamic centre in Zaria.“