Police, Shiites Dispute Over Killings As IMN Holds Ashura Procession

No fewer than four members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiites, are said to have been killed on Tuesday in Kaduna and Bauchi States.

The Shiites members had defied the proscription order of the Federal Government and held their Ashura procession in  Abuja, Kaduna, Bauchi and other states.

The police, which had earlier warned the IMN against defying the order, reportedly killed three members of the group during the procession in Bakin Ruwa, the outskirt of Kaduna state.

While the spokesman of the Kaduna police command, DSP Yakubu Sabo, has denied the killings, the secretary of the group’s academic forum, Abdullahi Musa, told Premium Times that three of their members were killed in Kaduna and one person in Bauchi State.

“We held the protest in Abuja and it has ended peacefully because the police did not meet us before it ended. But in Kaduna I understand that three people were killed when security tried to stop our members,” said Musa.

“There were also shootings in Lela, Sokoto state, Azare in Bauchi state and in Katsina state too, where the protest was held. They used teargas to disperse our members,” he said.