By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz
Abuja
By AbdulRaheem Aodu
Kaduna
Kaduna state government has officially released Gazette on the ban of the Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky-led Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), stating that there is no ban on other registered and lawful Shi’ite organisations.
Explaining that the ban was to protect rights of citizens rather than being a clampdown on adherents of a particular religion, Governor Nasir El-Rufai said IMN was not registered unlike other Shi’ite groups, it had no regard for constituted authorities, it has a paramilitary wing and its activities poses threat to citizens and maintenance of law and order.
El-Rufai, who spoke through his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, told reporters yesterday in Kaduna that his administration “upholds religious freedoms and all constitutional rights of every resident to practice the religion of their choice.”
“Our government did not and cannot ban any religion, but it has a duty to declare unlawful any group that threatens peace and security.”
Blueprint recalls that the Justice Muhammed Lawal Garba-led Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which include Prof. Awake Yadudu, Special Adviser on Legal matters to late Gen. Sani Abacha, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, former minister of Foreign Affairs, Afakriya Gadzama, former Director General State Security Service, among others, recommended the proscription of the IMN.
El-Rufai said the Commission’s report “solemnly declared unlawful a specific group that continues to threaten public order in the state.”
He said: “The IMN was never a registered organisation and it refused to conduct itself with full adherence to the laws of this state. Other groups in the Shia tradition are active in Nigeria. Like adherents of all other faiths, they are free to practice their creed without injuring the rights of others”.