We note the leap in his outlook of the IMN from his
infamous “state within a state” gaffe in his maiden Presidential speech to “our
brothers and sisters of the Shia Community” all within one year. This is a
remarkable feat considering the snail speed his administration has come to be
characterized with.
Beyond this however,
the President actually evaded the points at issue. His call that we "must
accept the laws of the country” we live in should actually have been echoed to
him. Have we not challenged all acts of brutality and extra-judicial killing of
our members in our law courts peacefully? Even in the face of extreme
persecution and provocation, we have followed the laws of the land, not by taking
the laws into our hands, or by employing jungle justice or disobeying any
legitimate laws of the country, but by seeking redress in law courts, even as
we know of the administration’s legendry disregard for court orders.
On the
contrary, Mr President, you are yet to obey the court order to release our
leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, whom you have held in illegal detention,
without charges, for more than a year now despite a court order for his release!
Mr President, only last week our leading Counsel, Femi Falana (SAN) had written
to remind you of that court order through your Chief Law officer, the
Attorney-General. Thus, we must ask you to stop begging the question. You
should obey the laws of the country you lead by obeying court order to free Sheikh
Zakzaky immediately!
Secondly, Mr President, we are not an
"island" by ourselves as your speech portrayed. We are well embedded
into all aspects of the society, contributing positively in various ways to its
success. We have built bridges across both intra and inter-faith divides. We
have been bridging gaps across tribal and regional divides. We have been
exposing the evil machination of authorities against its very citizens. Is that
not the very reason the authorities seek to curtail what they perceive as our
glowing influence and impact on the society? When campaign of blackmail and
calumny by government and its protégé failed woefully, your government applied
maximum and irrational force in attempt to crush us. Again on the contrary, you
are more of an island into yourself, detached from reality. You rely on cooked
up reports, which you call “intelligence” based on private prejudices that do
not reflect reality to formally crystallize into official resentment and hate
for a group and its leadership.
We take your call Mr
President that the law enforcement agencies must treat us “humanely and
according to the rule of law” as a confessional statement and an admittance
that hitherto, they've acted inhumanly like beasts. We wish to remind you what
our leader said at the inception of your administration, that you should re-constitute and re-orientate the Nigerian Army in order
not to inherit “an army that sees citizens as enemies.” This advice to you to
bring change in the way the military operated against civilians and the Movement was widely reported in the media. It is still
apt.
Finally, we call on the
President to stop beating around the bush. He must release Sheikh Ibraheem
Zakzaky immediately as ruled by the Court of the land. We expect him to also
order for the immediate release of all those who are still being held in
various places of detention across the country since the brutal attack on us. We
expect him to take bold steps against the officers that massively killed citizens
in Zaria, Kaduna, Kano, Funtua and Sokoto since the onset of the attacks on us
in December of 2015. We expect actions to address the matter of victims
secretly buried in mass graves. We demand for payment of compensation for lives
and property destroyed in the ill-conceived attacks. We await his words of condolences
in relation to those extra-judicially killed since the pogrom started.
SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN
01/01/17
Skype: Ibrahim.musa42
