The Shi’ite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has carpeted President Muhammadu Buhari over the statement by Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on their detained leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky.

A statement on Monday by Ibrahim Musa, President Media Forum of IMN, said the movement vehemently and in the most unequivocal terms condemned the recent statement attributed to the Alhaji Mohammed that El-Zakzaky is being held in detention for what he termed crimes and not religion.

IMN noted that if anyone deserves to be held and tried for crimes, it would be the top officials of the Buhari government, “who killed over a thousand unarmed citizens extra-judicially and buried in mass graves, and have used all the might of governance to hide the truth and obstruct the course of justice.”

IMN claimed that “the Nigerian government’s legendary disregard of the rule of law and the further acts of continuing persecution of members of the Islamic Movement, especially the impunity being constantly exhibited is well known to the International community.”

The group said the alleged act by the Buhari administration is a subject to preliminary investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. “Furthermore, many local and international human rights organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Islamic Human Rights Commission have all investigated and documented the atrocities meted on members of the Islamic Movement and its leadership, purely based on their religious beliefs. That the ongoing persecution of the Islamic Movement has drawn the attention of the world, especially very lately, the United States government is a reality that no forms of lies by Mr. Lai can obliterate,” IMN said.

It further said: “The world is not deceived by the false charges levied against the Sheikh, even when the about a hundred persons he was alleged to have aided and abetted were all discharged and acquitted by competent courts of law.

“That these charges were brought against him only after more than two years of incommunicado detention and also more than a year and half after a Federal High Court had ordered his unconditional release is enough to show the government has been looking for an alibi to further keep him in perpetual detention.

“Not so long ago, the same Minister of Information had told Nigerians that the leader of the Movement was being detained for his own protection, not that he committed any crime. In an effort to justify the contemptuous detention, the Minister Lai had told Nigerians that the Sheikh was being still detained because no one wants to be his neighbor.

“Mr. Lai had once told a television feature program that the courts don’t have the full picture, and so will not abide by the ruling of the Court with regards to Sheikh Zakzaky. This same Mr. Lai had also atrociously lied about how much the government spends to feed Sheikh Zakzaky.

“These constant changes in position as to the reason for the illegal detention of Sheikh Zakzaky betray a government pursuing some ulterior religious motives, which even Honorable Gabriel Kolawole, then of the Federal High Court acknowledged while delivering his judgment when he said: ‘Invidious unobtrusive acts of intolerance by majority Muslims who follow the Sunni school of thought against the minority Muslims who follow the Shiah school of thought is an important factor escalating the current crisis leading to the continued detention of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and the continued incessant persecution of its members.’ This is now also the official position of the US government and no amount of lies, blackmail or intimidation can change this.

“We, the members of the Islamic Movement and our leader, Sheikh Zakzaky, are entitled to freedom of religion, association and expression like every Nigerian citizen, all of which the Buhari regime is denying us and perpetually persecuting us because of our faith and beliefs. Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky is, undoubtedly, a prisoner of faith.”

The statement called on the general public not to relent in their efforts at denouncing the tyrannical trends of the Buhari regime. The government must be called to order to respect the rule of law and release Sheikh Zakzaky immediately and unconditionally.