Ban Shiites Now, Zaria Residents Tells Buhari

The Buhari-led Federal Government was on Saturday urged by Zaria residents in Kaduna to place a ban on the activities of the Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky’s Islamic Movement in the state and Nigeria in general with immediate effect. Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, spokesperson of the affected Zaria communities, Mallam Idris Mohammed Baba, stated that the call was long overdue as a result of the hardship the sect had unleashed on them for the last 20 years since its emergence. Baba noted that the group had held people in Zaria and Sabon Gari Local Council Areas hostage with impunity, adding that the group was running a parallel government in the country. Baba said, “My experience with Shiite followers is disastrous and terrible. At a point, Shiite boys threatened to kill me. We are happy over the military action against the Shiite’s movement in Zaria because we can now breathe fresh air in the area. “Before, we couldn’t grant interviews to the press about Shiite’s activities, but now we are sleeping with our two eyes closed. As a community, we wrote letters to the government about ungodly activities of Shiites, but no single action was taken.” An elder in the community, Alhaji Saidu Garba, had this to say, “After El-Zakzaky was released from detention in 1999, he came and settled in Gyallesu and since then, there has been no peace in the area. We thank Allah for touching the heart of government and the military for liberating us from Shiites’ untold hardship. “Shiites killed many of our people, who challenged their activities. We buried them and we cannot talk to the world because of their threat. We were living like slaves in our own land, where Shiite leader, Sheikh El-Zakzaky, met us.”