Shi’ites reject judicial commission report, says outcome pre-determined

A section of members of Islamic Movement in Nigeria trek from Kaduna to Zaria to mark Arba’een day in Kaduna .


The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as the Shi’ites, has rejected the report of Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba-led Judicial Commission of Inquiry which probed the December 12-14 clash between Shi’ites and members of the Nigerian Army.
Addressing a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, Chairman, Free Zakzaky Campaign Committee, Abdurrahman Abubakar Yola blamed what he termed as ‘massacre’ of its members in Zaria by President Muhammadu Buhari.



The group alleged that not only was President Buhari briefed ahead of the killing of its members, the president sanctioned and ordered it.
In rejecting the recently submitted report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, the committee said the government which set up the commission had already made up its mind that IMN was guilty.
Yola said, “It seems fairly obvious that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry (JCI) was a typical commission with a pre-determined mandate and report. Consequently, we reject the report and its recommendations. .. The charges against our members are still going on in five different high courts in Kaduna State and all of them have been denied bail on grounds that over 250 of them allegedly killed one soldier and no single security or military officer is facing trial for the death of over 1000 members of the IMN.”
On the allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the alleged ‘killings’ of the Shi’ites members, Yola said, “Allegation of forming a parallel authority by the IMN is a time-long allegation. It was one that even President Muhammadu Buhari mentioned with so much disgust and animosity during his maiden media chat. He repeated the same as reason why his government had to clamp down violently on the IMN while fielding questions on a foreign TV news channel in Qatar.”