Garba Shehu, presidential
spokesman, has accused the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) of whipping up
sentiments.
Responding to the position of the
group on the court which ordered its proscription, the presidential spokesman
said the sect is trying to divert attention from its “terrorist activities”.
Abdullahi Musa, secretary to the
academic forum of the movement, had said the federal government planned to stop
the sect from practising its religion.
“I don’t think any court has the
right to ban any religious group. Islamic movement in Nigeria is not an organisation
registered under the government, it is a religious group. Are they trying to
stop us from saying our daily prayers? They want to stop us from going to
Mecca? We are practising religion and we will continue to practice our
religion, there is no killing or act of intimidation that will stop us from
practicing our religion,” he said.
In a statement on Sunday, Shehu
said government has nothing to do with the sect’s religion but the “wanton
violence, murder and willful destruction of public and private property”.
“The proscription of Islamic
Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has nothing to do with banning the larger numbers of
peaceful and law abiding Shiites in the country from practicing their
religion,” he said.
“The Presidency explains that contrary
to the claim by IMN that it had been banned from practicing its religion,
President Buhari’s administration has not banned Shiites from observing their
five daily prayers and going to Mecca to perform the Holy pilgrimage.
“Their position is blatantly
false and deceptive. The IMN is deliberately changing the narrative in order to
gain sympathy and divert the attention of the world from its terrorist
activities, including attacking soldiers, killing policemen and a youth corps
member, destroying government ambulances and public property, consistently
defying authority of the state.
“The Presidency agrees that the
constitution protects freedom of worship, but not to the detriment of the
society, especially where such freedom harms others, and breaks law and order.
“The Presidency insists that such
criminal behavior and disregard for rights of others and human life will not be
tolerated by any responsible government, explaining that everywhere in the
world protesters operate within legal boundaries and conduct themselves
peacefully without molesting others, or engaging in murder and killing of
security personnel or destroying public and private property.
“The Presidency regrets that
despite all efforts by the government and other well-meaning Nigerians to make
the IMN militants to see reason and abandon violence, such appeals fell on deaf
ears as they killed, maimed and destroyed willfully, constituting daily
nuisance to workers, commuters and other innocent citizens.
“Having defied appeals to operate
peacefully, and given their seeming determination to destabilize the country,
the government had to act before the situation goes out of control, after
admonishing many times over that people should not use religion to perpetuate lawlessness.”
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