Coalition asks US, EU to call IMN to order after clash with police

The Coalition for Truth and Justice has reacted to the clash between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, and the police in Kaduna.

The coalition asked the United States, US, to call IMN to order.

In a statement signed by Timothy Charles, its national coordinator, the coalition said the call became necessary because IMN group may be plotting to attack security operatives.

“We found it pertinent to call on the United States of America, the United Kingdom, European Union and the United Nations to call the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) to order,” Charles said.

“The call became necessary following IMN’s clash with the Police at the weekend because this development signifies a renewal of hostilities on the part of the group while we also fear that its members must have acquired the stockpile of firearms they once promised to get in order to take on law enforcement operatives.

“The aforementioned countries and the United Nations should also caution IMN’s sponsor, Iran as Nigerians can no longer stomach this glaring phenomenon. In the event that security agencies are compelled to use force to enforce law and order, these are the countries that IMN will hide under international convention to demand intervention from. When things get to this stage it will be unfair for any international entity to censure Nigeria because the provocation has crossed all known bounds.

“We are aware that no religion permits people to bear arms against the sovereign state so, what IMN is doing in the name of religious liberties is nothing but a clear act of terrorism. Things have come to a stage where the annual Ashura procession has become a guaranteed trigger for IMN violence as its members continue to use the event to violently demand for the release of their leader, Mr. Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who is being held on the order of a competent court.

“The world must be reminded that the IMN leader’s continued incarceration with his wife is not at the behest of the Federal Government but is at the instance of the Kaduna State government, which declared IMN a terrorist entity.

“IMN’s violence at multiple locations in Kaduna state, in the capital and Zaria, is therefore a ploy of testing the waters to see if it can again export its terrorism to other parts of Nigeria as it did when it held the nation’s capital, Abuja, under siege. The group’s fighters were only dislodged from the city following series of casualties from several violent protests, including the murder of a senior policeman and a journalist on the same day.

“Members of this group, far from being victims, have become the ultimate aggressors, who constantly clash security agencies in the country; they have perfected how to launch armed onslaughts against law enforcement agencies without provocation.

“We ask that the US, UK, EU and UN immediately intervene before IMN terrorists destroy what it has left of peace in Nigeria by calling the group to order. They must also call IMN’s sponsor, Iran, to order because there should be a limit to that country’s interference into Nigeria’s affairs.”