One week after the deadly carnage in Zaria, Kaduna State, involving the Nigerian Army and members of the Shi’ite Community, President Muhammadu Buhari remains silent.
For a President whose preferred method of public communication has been widely described as “body language”, the message telegraphed by his silence is less than eloquent, unsettling and disquieting.
The exact sequence of events leading to the encounter between the Shi’ites and the Army will, hopefully, be unraveled by the judicial commission of inquiry to be established by the government of Kaduna State.
Some things are already quite clear however. Many people were killed in the encounter. Some have described it as a “massacre”.
The victims included young children and women.
The leader of the Shi’ites, Sheikh El-Zakzaky, has not been seen since then. The army initially said it took him into “protective custody”.
At best, this is not a lawful procedure under Nigerian law. Subsequently, the army claimed it handed him over to civil authorities for prosecution for as yet undisclosed crimes. The army is not a prosecutorial authority for civilians. So on what basis are they deciding that he should be prosecuted?
Rather unfortunately, and quite oddly, in a presumed secular state, the Shiite movement, like many islamic and christian religious organisations, appears to have its own long-term history of breaking the law, and of impunity, that had not been called to order by previous administrations, especially by holding processions or taking over and blocking major roads with utmost disregard for other road users.
Details in PREMIUM TIMES
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