The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has demanded that the Nigeria Police release, unconditionally, scores of its members that were wrongly arrested and are in custody.
It made the call on Sunday in a statement signed by the Movement’s media forum president, Ibrahim Musa.
The Islamic Movement also described as “mischievous and fictitious plot” the allegation by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police that one ASP Ezekiel Adama was stabbed to death by members of the IMN who were observing the annual International Quds Day in Abuja.
Musa said the allegation was part of the government’s “diabolic plots to associate the Movement with terrorism through series of false flag operations.”
The group said that this year’s Quds procession was peacefully conducted in at least 30 Nigerian towns and cities, including Kaduna, Kano, Zaria, Sokoto, Katsina and Jos to mention a few – as was in Abuja.
It said: “The only difference being that a combined team of security forces, in keeping with their diabolic schemes and in a show of shame, tracked participants on their way home after the procession had ended, to indiscriminately and without provocation open fire.
“As a result, many participants were injured, while scores were arrested, simply for participating in a peaceful procession that had ended without any incident.
“All that these participants were carrying with them were Palestinian flags and banners with inscriptions of solidarity with the oppressed people.”
IMN said it was not the first time the FCT command had tried to frame members of the organization with such trumped-up charges, as such attempt was made in 2019 when a news reporter and a senior police officer were killed and both were alleged to have been murdered by members of the Islamic Movement – only for autopsy report to later reveal that both were killed by police bullets.
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