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By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Dania Onozure, Monsuru Olowoopejo, Luminous Jannamike, Abdulmumin Murtala and Henry Ojelu
ABUJA – Yesterday, strong reactions were behind the ban by the Federal Government of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, also known as Shiites, under the name of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Senator Shehu Sani and some seasoned lawyers have warned of the consequences of the move, saying that it was unconstitutional.
This is even what the group said in Lagos yesterday that it did not intend to attack the South-West states, noting that it was also studying the government ban and consulting with its members. lawyers about it, in order to take a stand on the case soon.
Prohibit IMN, it's like putting out the fire by raising cotton walls – Shehu Sani
Reacting to the situation yesterday, the outgoing senator representing Kaduna Central District, Shehu Sani, described the ban as a bad decision that could create more problems for the country.
He spoke to Avant-garde during Kano weekend during a visit to the state, describing the federal government's decision to use a four-decade-old court to ban the movement, extinguish a fire by creating cotton walls .
He said, "Our culture is to hide our pepper in our nose or to try to extinguish a fire by creating cotton walls. That's what we do. A court can not solve the problem of insurgency or agitation, nor crush this kind of ideas.
"We have several laws on terrorism and we have been fighting Boko Haram for ten years.
"Second, which would we prefer, is it an Islamic movement with a leader that we can stop, who has members we can see, who has an identity that we can bring to justice or a group that will be forced to sink into secrecy?" serious danger to the security of our country?
"I think the option is ours. It's either we prefer an organization like this – one we can see or one we can not see. We have not managed to crush the one we can not see and we are already creating a new one.
"A country that can so sit down with bandits and negotiate is a contradiction to say that it can not talk to any other group.
"If you can sit on a bench and chat, if you can open your doors to bandits, if you can shake hands with bandits to find peace by talking to them, the solution to the IMN problem, in my personal opinion, is four times.
"The first is that the Sokoto Sultan and other religious leaders should provide the federal government with a guarantee against which the leader of the Islamic Movement should be released, posing as his guarantor. Second, the Islamic Movement should stop all forms of protest, whether peaceful or violent.
"The government should address the problems of their killed members and their destroyed homes, according to previous court decisions.
"The fourth solution is that the IMN network should put an end to all its alleged relations with countries outside Nigeria that could pose a threat to the security of our country. If they are a movement, they should be a Nigerian movement to pursue their ideas, their beliefs and also what they want.
"When these questions are put on the table, I think we can have a better solution. But we must avoid a situation where a movement that we can see, a movement that we can feel, a movement that we can touch, a movement that we know the homes of their members, their leaders and their structures, rather than A movement that would suddenly disappear from our own radar and do something sinister.
"The movement has been going on for four decades and they have been persecuted by successive governments and we must not create more problems than we face now."
FG acted with impure intentions – CAN
For its part, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, said the federal government's decision to declare the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, as a terrorist group had been created with impure intentions.
According to CAN, the government's inability to subject the issue of IMN's proscription to a rigorous judicial process in order to conclusively prove that it possessed the qualities of a terrorist group betrayed its lack of sincerity.
Barr. Samuel Kwamkur, head of CAN's Legal and National Affairs Directorate, said in a discussion with Vanguard insists that it is not sufficient, under the law, to declare a group of people terrorist on the basis of simple principles. ex-parte order.
He said: "The problem of IMN, aka Shiites, is not new. We are aware that some of their practices are offensive. We also know that they were extrajudicially killed by government forces. We also know that their leader is in detention.
"We will only talk as responsible religious leaders that the law should follow its full course. So the question of proscribing them through a ex-parte a request is not enough, because such a procedure must be the subject of a rigorous judicial process to confirm that it really has the characteristics of a terrorist group.
"We have seen the damage done to the public and those caused by the government. The proscription of any group should not concern the power that the strong can exert on the weak.
"The government should treat them fairly. Nigerians should learn that the court ruled Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and found it unsatisfactory. We should also know that their case has been fully tried by a court and deserves to be proscribed and labeled a terrorist. We would know now that they have been heard fairly.
"When you use the power to make a decision on the prohibition of a group, it amounts to intimidation and hatred towards a group of people."
He also worried about the federal government's reluctance to declare herders and armed bandits, but to ban Shiites.
"We know that Nigeria has faced many crimes, even though it is perpetuated by armed herders across the country. Many Nigerians have asked that pastoralists be banned and declared terrorists, but we have not seen the government show any desire to prosecute them, much less call them a terrorist group.
"So we are concerned that Nigeria's problem is not being dealt with properly, but the government is quick to respond to the problems that hinder those in the corridors of power. Some of us are disappointed.
"Why can the government not take decisive action to treat kidnappers, bandits and criminals and eliminate Nigeria's insecurity in the bud? We believe that the proscription of Shiites has no reason to be sincere.
Falana, Ozekhome Blast FG
Femi Falana, SAN, lawyer of the group leader and Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, reacted in the same way: The Buhari regime is immoral and illegal in all its material details.
"It is particularly opportunistic on the part of Sunnis occupying positions in power to use the state's instrument to liquidate Shiites."
In response, Constitutional Contingent Chief Mike Ozekhome of the SAN said, "The government's ban on the Shiite religious group is extremely discriminatory and unconstitutional, as was the case with IPOB.
"Which group could be more terrorist than the herders who have kept Nigeria on the ground for years, killing, maiming, burning, raping, turning Nigeria into a crimson field bathed in blood?
Lecturer at the Law School of Lagos State University, Gbenga Ojo, said in his reaction: "It goes too far. You do not have to call a dog a bad name to suspend it. Terrorists do not operate openly with offices, headquarters and known members.
"Terrorists operate in secret and use coded names for their operations. Can you compare them to Boko Haram? I do not think they are terrorists. They can call them any name, but not terrorists, unless terrorism has lost its meaning. "
The action of FG against IMN is unconstitutional, the SANs insist
More lawyers from Nigeria, SAN and other constitutionalists who spoke with Avant-garde in separate talks yesterday, repressed the federal government's action, insisting that the order was illegal.
Law practitioners were unanimous in saying that the sect was denied the right to a fair trial guaranteed by the Constitution.
Mohammed Abeny, SAN, said: "With regard to Nigerian laws, what happened Friday in court is illegal and is unconstitutional. Assuming the government wants to outlaw IMN, it will continue and serve the processes. Procedures will be initiated during which they will have the opportunity to be heard on why they should not be banned.
"But going to court with an ex parte application and making decisions of such a scope, banning them, being published in the official journal and being described as a terrorist organization without hearing them, is a violation of the law. Article 36 of the 1999 Constitution.
"The judge should not have received the ex parte application. It seems to me that the court did not do justice to this trial. "
For his part, Silas Onu, a constitutional expert, said, "The court was unfair to hear and decide an issue that affects the right of citizens to freedom of religion, without hearing the other party."
The appointed minister, Mr. Festus Keyamo, declined to comment on the case.
Also react to the question, human rights lawyer, Larry Ajanaku said, "Given the recent events around the federal capital and its environs, the best thing to do in these circumstances was to contact the court for an order as directed. If an order could be obtained against IPOB, it is the same. "
Evans Ufeli, executive director of the Cadrell Advocacy Center, also responded: "The Federal Government of Nigeria has not been able to show diplomacy and tact in its approach to the conflict between it and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. First, I think the government would like the court's decision to tacitly prohibit the above-mentioned group from being implemented, but the same government did not obey the court's order to bail group leader El Zakzaky on bail. same subject.
"Would the act of contempt of the government not become a real excuse for the group to resist or to refuse to become a terrorist organization? Proscription is not a sensible mechanism to fight against these kinds of religious and ideological expletives, because it is capable of arousing a pbadion that could lead to a new collapse of law and order. "
Another lawyer, Emmanuel Ochai, said: "Article 10 of the 1999 Constitution makes Nigeria a secular state. You can not forbid religion, the belief of a people. Shiites are Muslims practicing their religion.
"You can not ban or ban them as a terrorist group. Article 38 of the Constitution also guarantees the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999, as amended. "
Prohibition order: we study the situation – IMN
At the same time, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, aka Shiite, said yesterday that it was carefully studying the so-called order of a federal high court in Abuja to declare it and to prohibit it, stating that the group was in consultation with his lawyers.
The group, in a statement signed by Ibrahim Musa, chairman of the Media Forum, said that even though he had not yet received a copy of the order, his specialists and his lawyers were already studying the situation and provide an appropriate response in a timely manner.
The statement, entitled "Proclaiming the Islamic Movement is a huge joke, reads as follows: The Islamic Movement has learned the fallacious ordinance of a court that ordered its ban by a high court in Abuja , saying that it was a terrorist group.
"We are consulting with our lawyers and, as a peaceful people victim of the Buhari-sponsored terrorist attacks throughout his first and second term, we will respond appropriately.
"We want to badure the general public and the international community that we will not have to make a reckless decision, no matter the provocation.
"We believe that this order was hastily obtained to sweep under the carpet the gross violations of human rights suffered by the Islamic Movement in the hands of the Buhari administration since the Zaria genocide. December 2015.
"We reject any terrorist attack under a false flag that the authorities would commit on our behalf, and thus badure the general public that we have never considered resorting to terrorist tactics. This is not about to change.
"All this is part of the blinding official stereotypes against the Islamic movement. However, we would not call for the immediate release of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife, using all legal and peaceful means as we have done all this time. "
No plan to attack S-West states – IMN
Yesterday, too, the group dispelled the fears of the inhabitants of the South West states, claiming that any law pbaded by the federal government would not require them to attack state government facilities or to engage in acts contrary to the Constitution. 1999.
IMN added that it would continue to demand the release of its leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat.
The South West coordinator, IMN, Muftau Zakariya, while reacting to the alleged plans of the group to attack the government facilities in the South West states, in an interview with Vanguard urged residents not to panic, as IMN members, also known as Shiites, are law-abiding citizens.
He said: "What we are looking for is the release of our leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife. That's all. We have never taken up arms against the forces of order. Rather, they continued to use weapons against us.
"We are law-abiding citizens and we believe in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria. We urge all residents of the Southwest to ignore any information that we plan to attack government premises. "
IMN stoking feelings – presidency
Meanwhile, Mallam Garba Shehu, spokesman for the presidency, accused the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, of stirring up feelings.
In response to the group's position on the court that ordered his ban, the president's spokesman said the sect was attempting to divert attention from its "terrorist activities."
Abdullahi Musa, secretary of the movement's university forum, said the federal government was planning to prevent the sect from practicing its religion.
"I do not think a court has the right to ban a religious group. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria is not an organization registered under the government, it is a religious group. Are they trying to stop us from reciting our daily prayers?
"They want to prevent us from going to Mecca? We practice religion and we will continue to do so, there is no murder or intimidation that prevents us from practicing our religion, "Musa said.
But in a statement released yesterday, Garba Shehu said that the government had nothing to do with the religion of the sect, it was about indiscriminate violence, murder and the deliberate destruction of public property. and private.
The statement said: "The proscription of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, has nothing to do with the ban on the highest number of peaceful and law-abiding Shiites to practice their religion," he said. -he declares.
"The presidency explained that contrary to the statement of IMN that it would have been forbidden to practice his religion, the administration of President Buhari did not prohibit Shiites from entering. observe their five daily prayers and go to Mecca to perform the holy pilgrimage.
Do not engage us again, warns IGP to Shiites(Opens in a new browser tab)
"Their position is patently false and misleading. IMO deliberately modifies the narrative to generate sympathy and distract the world from its terrorist activities, including attacking soldiers, killing police and a youth corps member, destroying government ambulances and public goods, systematically defying the authority of the state.
"The presidency recognizes that the constitution protects freedom of worship, but not to the detriment of society, especially when that freedom harms others and violates law and order.
SHI'ITES: warning of Sheik Gumi, defense of El-Zakzaky(Opens in a new browser tab)
"The Presidency insists that a responsible government will not tolerate such criminal behavior and contempt for the rights of others and human life, explaining that all over the world, protesters are acting within the bounds of the law and behave peacefully without badaulting others or engaging in badbadination or badbadination, badbadination of security personnel or destruction of public and private property.
"The Presidency regrets that, despite all the efforts of the government and other well-intentioned Nigerians to urge the militants of the NMI to see the reason and give up the violence, these appeals fell into the Deaf ear when they killed, maimed and deliberately destroyed, constituting a daily nuisance for workers, commuters and other innocent citizens.
El-Zakzakky: Islam-Christian Forum denounces continuing terrorist acts in Nigeria(Opens in a new browser tab)
"Having challenged the calls to operate peacefully and their apparent desire to destabilize the country, the government had to act before the situation escalated, after repeatedly criticizing the fact that people should not use religion to perpetuate the violence. ;anarchy.
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