There was palpable tension on Thursday in Abuja over a clash between the Police and the protesting Shiite group also known as the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).
The group was said to have commenced a peaceful march from the premises of the Federal High Court after a Judge dismissed a matter filled by Federal Government’s agents to justify the decision to withhold International Passports of IMN leaders, Sheikh Ibrahim El’ Zazakky and his wife, almost two years after being discharged and acquitted by the court.
Kaduna High Court on July 28, 2021 discharged and acquitted Sheikh Ibrahim El’ Zakzakky and his wife of culpable homicide, disruption of public peace and unlawful assembly in a charge brought against them by Kaduna State Government.
Confirming the protest, Abdullahi Musa, the Secretary, Academic Forum of Islamic Movement of Nigeria ( IMN) alleged that the Police attacked the peaceful protesters with tear gas and sporadic shooting, which affected eight of their members, leaving two in critical conditions.
Musa vowed that the protest would be sustained in Abuja until all relevant government’s agencies obey court orders to release the international passports of Sheikh and his wife, or allow Immigration authority to issue new ones to them.
Efforts to contact FCT Police spokesman SP Josephine Adeh were futile with her phone not reachable.
But The Nation saw police vans moving some arrested member of the IMN to an unknown destination within the nation’s capital