Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, also known as Shi’ites who say they lost family members in last month’s clash between the army and the sect have been protesting in the university town of Zaria in Kaduna State.

They said that they want the bodies of their loved ones back for a “proper burial.”

No official figure for the number who were killed has been released, but the sect members believe it runs into hundreds.

The violence followed allegations that members of the sect had attempted to assassinate Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, an allegation which the Shi’ites vehemently deny.

The Shi’ites had yesterday lamented the lack of information on the whereabouts of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, while demanding access to them.

“Their whereabouts are still unknown, three weeks after their arrest and detention by the Nigerian military,” the group said in a statement by its spokesman, Ibrahim Musa.

In the statement issued in Kaduna, the group said: “However, it is on record that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General T.Y. Buratai, had said on December 18th, 2015 that Sheikh El-Zakzaky had been transferred from the army to appropriate authorities for prosecution. We presumed he meant the Nigerian police.

“To our bewilderment, when a committee of National Supreme Council for Islamic affairs (NSCIA) met the Inspector General of Police and demanded to see the Sheikh, he flatly refused. Not long ago, the Force Public Relations Officer Olabisi Kolawole, had said that Sheikh Zakzaky was being prosecuted.”

The group quoted Kolawole as saying: “The Shi’ite leader has been arraigned in court where he was charged with criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbances among others; he has been remanded in prison custody and the case adjourned.”

But “surprisingly while the Nigerian authorities had announced that he was detained and arraigned in Kaduna prisons, the Controller of Kaduna Prisons, Abubakar Argungu, denied he was in their custody. So whom should we believe? This smacks of deceit, conspiracy and outright manipulation of the public’s view of the army’s massacre in Zaria,” the Shi’ite statement said, adding:

“The Islamic Movement as well as the general public are now seriously anxious. Where is Sheikh Zakzaky and why has he been denied his constitutional rights to an attorney, bail and visitation? If the government is truly interested in finding a peaceful way out of this crisis the army initiated and executed, it should by now have allowed unimpeded access to Sheikh Zakzaky.

“His first family members and leading brothers of the Islamic Movement should have met him in the company of his doctor by now, since he was shot by the soldiers when they attacked his residence. We are highly agitated by this seeming needless incommunicado the Sheikh has been placed in.

“The federal government should tell the public where Sheikh Zakzaky is, because rumours of various degrees are flying about his health. We believe it is only when the Sheikh’s health condition is made public by the relevant authorities that the tension brewing among the

populace will be doused.”

On the recent execution of a prominent Shia Muslim leader, Nimr al-Nimr by the Sauidi authorities, Musa said: “It is known by all and sundry watching the international scene that

Sheikh Nimr was a vocal supporter of the masses anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011, where a Shia majority had long complained of marginalisation.”

•Based on reports from Blueprint and BBC. Photo shows protesting female Shi’ites in Zaria.