The Kaduna State Police Command said it had so far arrested 42 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, otherwise known as ‘Shi’ites’, in the state capital.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Mukhtar Aliyu, said the arrest was in connection with a recent bloody protest, in which a police officer was killed on Thursday.
Members of the group had between Wednesday and Thursday stormed the state capital to protest what they described as the continued “incarceration” of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky; his wife, Zeena, and other members of the movement held in various dentition facilities in the North.
This was just as El-Zakzaky and wife were being arraigned before the Kaduna State High Court along Ibrahim Taiwo Road in the metropolis.
But the protest later turned bloody, leading to the death of a police officer.
Aliyu told our correspondent in a WhatsApp message on Friday that the command had apprehended 42 members of the sect and that they would soon be charged to court.
“(This is an) update on the arrest of Shi’ite members in connection with the brutal killing of a police officer while discharging his lawful duty and responsibility. On June 21, 2018, 42 suspects were arrested and would be charged to court after the conclusion of our investigation,” he said.
In a statement, the spokesman said the sect members were armed with guns, knives, IEDs and that they were responsible for the death of a police officer.
He said the command would do everything to ensure security and protect the lives and property of law abiding citizens of the state.
The statement read in part:”The Kaduna State Police Command wishes to inform the general public that again, on June 21, 2018, at about 10am, the violent members of the proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria, popularly referred to as Shi’ites, who were armed with guns, knives, IEDs, and so on, violently attacked every police officer on sight, during which they brutally killed a police officer and injured several others.
“The police command views their action as confrontational and a calculated attempt to force the police into having a conflict with them and disrupting the peace in Kaduna State.
“In the cause of containing this incident, a number of suspects were arrested and will soon be charged to court.”
But the IMN, in its reaction, said the attack on the police was carried out to coincide with its ‘Free El-Zakzaky’ protest, “so as to discredit us and turn the tables against us.”
The group said it had uncovered a plot by the police and thugs to embark on house-to-house attacks of its members in Kaduna.
The group said, “Reports reaching us indicate that the police, in an unholy alliance with thugs called Civilian Joint Task Force, have planned house-to-house attacks on certain targeted members of the Movement living in Kaduna from today.
“According to our sources, the police have assured the thugs of state that they would give them backing and cover. ‘Nothing will happen to you,’ they were told.
“The source further said the police had told the thugs that it was a waste of time charging members of the IMN to court because ‘eventually they would be set free.’”
