Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiites, have raised alarm over alleged plans by some armed political thugs recruited in the name of the group to cause mayhem during the general elections.
The Shiites, who dissociated themselves from such unpatriotic act against the conduct of elections, yesterday, said it had received very credible reports that some unusual movements by certain unknown persons with dangerous weapons were sighted on Thursday in some parts of Zaria, Kaduna State, especially around the Sabon Gari area.
Its spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, in a statement, said: “It has become very urgent to alert the general public, in view of the series of leaked memos from DSS and the Presidency falsely alleging that NIM was planning to cause violence prior to next weeks general elections.
“We wish to reiterate the Movement’s total abhorrence to violence under any guise. We therefore wish to completely dissociate ourselves from any plots to cause chaos and confusion, which we believe the security agents are bent on staging, through a series of false flag operations, all in our name.
“We want to reassure the general public and the international community of our commitment to peaceful coexistence between people of different religious, regional and tribal inclination, as championed by our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.“We wish to once again seize this opportunity to demand for the immediate and unconditional freedom of Zakzaky, his wife and hundreds of others still in detention since December, 2015.”
