The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has rejected the Nigerian Army’s claim of reacting to an attempt by the members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria to assassinate the Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, saying it was laughable, an after-thought and unacceptable.
Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola, said in a statement that group has no record of violence during its annual processions and that on the contrary, the Nigerian Army seems to have marked the group for attacks as manifested in its unprovoked attack on the group in July 2014 which claimed the lives of three of Sheikh Zakzaky’s sons and over 30 other members of the group.
“The army’s claim that the procession blocked the access road appears more plausible but it could only have slowed down the movement of traffic and does not warrant a massacre of this proportion. In comparison, the disruption of traffic movement caused by the Islamic organization in Zaria is a child’s play when considered against the background of the notorious blockade and heavy traffic caused by the Redeemed Church on Lagos-Ibadan expressway which causes untold suffering to thousands of travelers,” Akintola said.
He wondered if the Nigerian Army vehicles have not been caught in the traffic gridlock on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, asking if they ever get down and start shooting members of the Redeemed Church who caused the gridlock.
While saying that the last killing is one too many which must be investigated and those found wanting punished, he said the soldiers action threatened safeguard rule of law and democracy and that a repeat of the Boko Haram insurgency must be prevented.
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