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Nigeria fears popularity of Islamic Movement: Analyst

Saturday, 19 December 2015 4:54 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 19 December 2015 4:54 AM ]

Shia Muslims are seen lying on the ground amid a raid by Nigerian government troops (unseen) targeting the house of top Shia cleric Ibrahim al-Zakzaky in Zaria, December 12, 2015.

Press TV has interviewed Massoud Shadjareh, with the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), and Julius Mbaluto, a political analyst, both from London, on the Nigerian army’s massacre of Shia Muslims.

Shadjareh slammed the Nigerian army for mass killings of Shia Muslims and its attempt to cover up the crime by burying the innocent victims in mass graves. He also censured the international community for remaining tight-lipped in the face of the assault.

“Islamic Movement, as its name goes, is not a Shia movement, it’s the Islamic movement of Nigeria; it’s supported tremendously” by all Nigerian sects, the analyst says.

Shadjareh said the Abuja government fears the popularity of the Islamic Movement “because it’s actually popular with everyone, with the Christian community and with the Sunni community.”

Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, the movement’s leader, has always ruled out any resort to violence, said the analyst, adding that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria has been against corruption and injustice.

The “Nigerian government, the Saudis, the United States and Israel want to divide the Muslim community,” he noted.

Mbaluto, for his part, believes the Nigerian army’s carnage, which had the backing of Abuja, ignites the flames of sectarian violence in the crisis-hit African country.

He criticized the Western media and governments for turning a blind eye to violence in the African continent, particularly Nigeria.

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