The police confirmed the death of two officers while the IMN said many of its members are being detained.
Last Sunday, the police and members of the proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) clashed in Wuse Market Abuja, with both sides claiming casualties and damages.
The group was rounding off its two-day Arbaeen procession, which started on Saturday when the face-off ensued. The Arbaeen procession is done 40 days after the Shiite group's annual Ashura anniversary to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussain bn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, in Karbala, Iraq.
Top members of the group who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday said the procession is done globally. They said their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, joined the procession in Iraq.
The FCT police command, in a press statement, said two of its officers stationed at a traffic light in Wuse were killed in an "unprovoked" attack by the Shiite group. The police said the IMN members were armed with "machetes, improvised explosive devices (locally made bombs in bottles with kerosene), and knives."
The incident, according to the command's spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, left three [officers] unconscious in the hospital. She added that three police patrol vehicles were set ablaze.
An onlooker, identified as Amiru, also lost his life during the incident, according to a Daily Trust report. The victim was shot in the chest while running for his life when the police chased the protesters close to Chateau De La-Rey in Wuse Zone 6.
Pattern of violence, Allegations and Counter-allegations
PREMIUM TIMES has reported several violent incidents between security agencies and the IMN, which has since been proscribed by the Nigerian government.
In virtually all situations, the violence commences when security agencies, in a bid to maintain law and order, try to prevent IMN members from continuing with a march or a road blockade during their processions.
Both parties always accuse each other of instigating the violence. The IMN, which often suffers the most casualties, says the police use lethal force to disperse its members, while the police often accuse the IMN members of attacking its officers unprovoked.
Sunday's incident was not different.
Abdullahi Musa, the secretary for the group's academic forum, in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, denied that members of the group attacked the police unprovoked.
He said last weekend's procession was peaceful on its first day when "we marched from Masaka to Mararaba as those in Suleja [Niger State] marched to Zuba."
Mr Musa said that on the second day of the procession (on Sunday), the police stationed armed officers around Wuse market, where the IMN was conducting its procession.
"They started firing teargas and live bullets at us around 11:20 a.m. on Sunday," he said, adding that police took four of their injured members away from the scene.
The secretary also denied that the IMN members killed police officers.
According to him, the group's members were not armed, as claimed by the police.
He said the police officers were killed by shots fired by their colleagues. Mr Musa recalled a similar scenario in 2019 when they were protesting against the detention of their leader, Mr El-Zakzaky.
Mr Musa said during the #FreeZakzaky protests in 2019, the police blamed the group for the killing of one AIG Umar Bello who was shot by "his colleagues while speaking to us."
"During that protest, they killed 11 of our members and denied it," Mr Musa continued, adding about six corpses were later released to their family members.
On Wednesday, Rabiu Abdullahi, a prominent leader of the movement, held a press conference expressing deep concerns over what he termed as ongoing human rights violations by the police authorities.
Mr Abdullahi said several IMN members were arrested during the Arbaeen Trek that took place over the weekend.
"Our brothers and sisters, arrested on August 25, 2024, have been denied access to their families and lawyers. All the necessary efforts put in place to reach them and learn about their condition have been deliberately frustrated by security agents.
"We call upon relevant authorities and all well-meaning individuals to call the NPF to order before things get out of control. We demand the unconditional release of all those arrested during the 2024 Abuja Arba'een," he added.
PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify Mr Abdullahi's claims. The police spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the recent claims as she did not respond to calls or a message sent to her.
But Haruna Magashi, the IMN's lawyer, corroborated the secretary, although he was not in Abuja when the incident happened.
"My clients briefed me that they conducted their procession peacefully ... before the police arrived and without any provocation, started firing teargas and subsequently live bullets," Mr Magashi told PREMIUM TIMES, adding that a "lot of people including women and children" were shot and wounded. He said many were arrested afterwards.
Mr Magashi said the police also attacked a residence at Karmajiji in Abuja on 26 August, but he had not received any report of arrest or casualties.
The lawyer said the Abuja police command called him before the weekend rally to ask where his clients would be converging and marching for their Arbaeen procession.
"I told them that on Saturday, it will be from two different directions. One from Mararaba to Abuja and the other from Suleja to Abuja," Mr Magashi said, adding that he told the police the two-day procession would end at noon.
He continued: "As for Sunday, the organisers said they could not confirm the routes because they will choose carefully so as not to obstruct church activities. They could only ascertain the routes that Sunday."
After the violence in Abuja, our reporter learnt that the police, around 4:30 p.m., proceeded to a guest inn in neighbouring Suleja where some members of the group were lodged. There, they fired teargas and bullets and dispersed IMN members inside the guest inn, three members of the group who spoke to our reporter said.
"After they dispersed us, they went away with some 30 injured members and burnt a Mazda car belonging to Musa Muhammed," one of the group's members told PREMIUM TIMES, asking not to be named for fear of arrest.
He added that Mr Muhammed, who hails from Sokoto State, was arrested after the police team set his car ablaze.
Eyewitness Account
A witness of Sunday's violence in Wuse, Abuja, told Daily Trust that what he saw suggested the IMN members were the aggressors.
"They pelted the officers with stones and seized guns from the police," the witness told Daily Trust. "They overpowered the police, so they had to run for their lives," the source said, adding that "the protesters further set fire to three police vehicles."
The police said they have arrested 97 suspects over the incident.
Mr El-Zakzaky, the IMN leader, is a prominent Shia advocate in Nigeria. He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State, in the 1970s. During his student years, he led both the Muslim Students Society (MSS) and Nigeria's Muslim Brotherhood.
He became notorious for advocating Islam as an alternative to socialism and capitalism. He organised rallies where followers burned the Nigerian constitution to protest against secularism and publicly supported Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979.
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After a visit to Iran in 1980, Mr El-Zakzaky reportedly adopted the symbolism and rhetoric of Ayatollah Khomeini, the late Shia leader of Iran. He also reportedly incorporated the ideologies of Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb, founders of the Sunni Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr El-Zakzaky established the IMN and reportedly embarked on recruitment campaigns at northern Nigerian universities to promote the Iranian revolution. While imprisoned in the mid-1980s, he converted to Shia Islam and transformed the IMN from a student organisation into a mass movement that advocated for the implementation of Sharia law in Nigeria.
He criticised Nigeria's secular government and accused traditional Sunni leaders, including the Sultan of Sokoto and Sufi brotherhoods, of siding with the government to protect their interests. He would later become soft on his antagonism.
IMN's previous confrontations with the police
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Nigerian government detained Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah, in December 2015 after security operatives killed over 300 members of IMN in Kaduna State.
The Shiites were attacked and killed for blocking a road being used by the then-army chief, Tukur Buratai, during one of their rallies in Kaduna State.
The army initially denied the killings until an independent body set up by the Kaduna government confirmed it and that the victims were buried in mass graves by the army.
That massacre was condemned by local and international groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife were held for five years until a court acquitted them of all charges levelled against them.
Despite the court ruling, the government still held on to his international passport until last year when he was allowed to travel.
