Civil rights group asks court to stop IMN from publishing book on Shiites massacre

• Urges arrest of spokesman
• Says publication can jeopardise El-Zakzaky’s trial

The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has filed a suit at the state High Court in Kaduna asking for an order to stop the Spokesman of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim Musa, from publishing a book on the clash between the group and the Army, saying that it is capable of jeopardising the ongoing trial of the IMN leader, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

Edward Omaga, who spoke with journalists after filing the suit, said the Centre viewed the attempt to publish the book as an attempt to prove that Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his followers are not guilty whereas the state is prosecuting him.He said one could not release a book for public consumption at the same time when issues are before the court of law.

CESJET, in the originating summons, wants the court to determine whether by virtue of the report of the judicial commission of inquiry into the clash between IMN and the Nigerian army and the gazetted white paper emanating from it, the IMN was not proscribed and designated as a terrorist group and whether Ibrahim Musa is not by writing a book on the IMN attempting to commit an act of terrorism.

The Centre is also asking the court for an order mandating the Commissioner of Police in Kaduna State to arrest and prosecute the IMN spokesman for trying to publish the book entitled, “December 2015 Massacre of Shiites in Nigeria: Survivors Accounts” which it says, amounts to trying to dislodge the Nigerian government.

It stressed that by trying to launch a book on the IMN, Musa is trying to further the activities of the IMN, which the centre described as ‘criminal.’

CESJET further said that being the spokesman of the IMN, Musa was capable of tainting the book with falsehood, defamation or blackmail capable of inciting the public against the Nigerian government and jeopardising the ongoing trial of El-Zakzaky for offences bordering on treason, terrorism and murder.

Omaga said that the centre’s interest was to see that the security of the nation is not threatened under any guise and that members of the public are not allowed to engage in activities capable of inciting people against the government or rubbishing the temple of justice at any point.