Shiites, NAF bicker over killings in Sokoto

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) have condemned the killing of innocent Nigerians in Sokoto State by security forces on October 20.

The president, Media Forum of IMN, Ibrahim Musa, said the killings in Sokoto should be of concern to all Nigerians.

“In as much as the victims involved are not of the Islamic movement, we wish to condemn this act of impunity and extra-judicial killing implemented by the military and draw attention to a dangerous trend they have introduced whereby uniformed men can kill anybody at will and claim that they thought he or she was Shiite,” he noted.

However, he explained that media reports attributed to witnesses had it that the crisis began when a lady, said to be the girlfriend of an officer, was teased by young people in the area which led the lady informing her boyfriend of what transpired.

“The officer reportedly deployed a truckload of Air Force personnel to Mabera. They trailed a young student, Abdulsalam Lawan, who took refuge in a nearby house, killing him and a 40-year-old mother of seven, Maryam Abdulrahman, on October 20, 2019.

“To cover this act, the military informed newsmen that they thought their victims were members of the Islamic Movement.”

Meanwhile, the Director of Public Relations and Information of NAF, Air Cdre. Ibikunle Daramola, informed The Guardian on telephone yesterday that IMN was misrepresenting the facts on the unfortunate incident.

Daramola maintained that NAF, as a professional and disciplined security agency, would not go out to kill people as claimed by IMN.

On the incident in question, he said available intelligence showed that those who attacked the NAF personnel had links with the IMN.