The Islamic Movement, also known as the Shiites, on Thursday denied the allegation by the Federal Capital Territory Police Command that the group was responsible for some of the deaths of its officers in the year 2024.
It would be recalled that the Commissioner, FCT Police Command, CP Olatunji Disu, said this in his end-of-the-year statement.
Disu alleged that some of his 140 active-duty officers died as a result of Shiites activities, other violent protests and high blood pressure in Abuja in 2024.
Reacting during a press briefing in Abuja, Abdullahi Musa, a member of the movement, under the leadership of Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky (H), described the allegation as a falsehood.
Musa said: “Even when we protest, we protest peacefully.
“Some of our members who wish to inform the police, to invite them for protection have done that and the police always come there to attack them.
“So there was nothing like Shiite protest or violent protest in Abuja that would have led to the death of 140 police officers.
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“But I agree that blood pressure can lead to the death of police officers because they are being oppressed by the government, which they work for.
“Most of the police officers were being denied their salaries and allowances.
“They know.
“It is just that the constitution prohibited the police officers from protesting, you would have seen a lot of violent protests among the police officers.
“So we vehemently reject this allegation of killing police officers.
“We don’t kill anybody.
“They have killed us on several occasions, they even follow us to our houses to arrest us.
“We have never attacked anybody.
“What we are doing is purely religion.”
Musa said though former President Muhammadu Buhari spent eight years with nothing to show for it except for unprecedented poverty, economic hardship, hunger and ever-increasing insecurity that plagued the nation, he alleged that the government, however, used all the weapons in its arsenal and mobilised every security parastatal to fight the Islamic movement.
He added: “From campaigns of calumny in the media to arbitrary arrests, death threats and constant attacks on peaceful protesters; the demolition of buildings and graveyards, unlawful detention, and so many other acts of violence too numerous to mention, the Islamic movement, and in particular its leader, Sayyid Ibraheem Ya’qoub El-Zakzaky (H), had endured one of the harshest state-sponsored acts of terrorism.
“These and so many other actions that followed made various human rights groups and public affairs analysts come to the conclusion that the Zaria massacre was indeed a foreign agenda masterminded by former President Buhari.”
Musa alleged that President Bola Tinubu’s government is already toeing the line.
He said: “To our dismay, we come to realise that the story is not different with the incumbent administration.
“The security operatives, with impunity, still continue to persecute the activists of the Islamic movement.”
According to him, these persistent acts of violence against Islamic activities being organised by the brothers and sisters of the Islamic movement are a direct attack on Muslims and Islam.
Musa said: “It’s high time that Bola Tinubu comes out in the open to declare his intention of continuing with the atrocities of his predecessor.
“All we want to make clear is that the Islamic Movement is here to stay.
“It is our religion.
“It is an ideology.
“It is a concept and not an organisation.
“It cannot be crushed or eliminated!
“The Islamic Movement is here to stay, and no amount of persecution can deter us from carrying out our religious activities.
“As a nation that claims to be democratic, it’s a shame that some people are being marginalised by the state due to their religious beliefs.”
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