Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, leader of
the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), was expelled from the Ahmadu Bello
University (ABU), Zaria, in 1979 after reportedly leading a violent protest
against the use of alcohol in the school.
El-Zakzaky, whose first name is also
spelt “Ibrahim”, founded IMN as a student at ABU to propagate Shi’ite Islam,
which gained a significant mileage in 1979 with the Iranian revolution. Iran
became an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini, who overthrew the
country’s monarchy.
The disciplinary committee recommended the expulsion of El-Zakzaky and
Sani Daura, then president of the Muslim Student Society (MSS), over the
incident. Although he made a first-class in economics, he did not graduate officially.
Some MSS members had invaded a
party organised by ABU students union to protest the sale and consumption of
alcohol by those in attendance.
In the report dated November 2,
1979, and signed by S.S. Gbinde, its secretary, the committee said it was
believed El-Zakzaky was one of those behind the invasion that occurred on
October 20, 1979.
Ango Abdullahi, then-acting
vice-chancellor of ABU and chairman of the committee, had told the members that
MSS had written a “warning letter” to the students union against the planned
party.
Daura, then MSS leader, was
quoted as telling the committee that the group sent the letter to kick against
the planned consumption and sale of alcohol “on the grounds that public places
were being used and public money was being used.”
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| El-Zakzaky preaching in the early 1990s |
Asked why the university should
“in isolation disapprove of what is commonly allowed outside”, Daura reportedly
responded that that was “a matter of ignorance on the part of the general
public.”
“On Saturday, the students union
disco party was held as scheduled and about 3am, about nine MSS students came
in with clubs and other weapons with the intent to cause trouble,” the
committee said in one of its minutes.
‘EL-ZAKZAKY’S ROLE IN THE FRACAS’
El-Zakzaky, who was the
secretary-general of the MSS in 1977/78 session, was quoted as telling the
committee “he was a party to the peaceful demonstration and not the violent
one”.
Asked where he was the night the
fracas occurred, El-Zakzaky reportedly said he came back from town at about
5pm, left his room at about 9:15pm for the central mosque “for the usual
Saturday discussion” (and) was back about 11pm where he met Sheriff Abuna,
Abdullahi and Usman.
“He continued that when he was
woken up at night, himself, Sheriff, Abdullahi and another person all rushed
out. An alarm was rasied and Abdullahi was arrested and taken to the security
office. He admitted that he followed him to the security office and was back to
his room at about 3am,” the report read.
The report added that after his
interrogation, Abdullahi, who also served as the committee chairman, said he
believed “the attack had originated from Ibrahim’s room as most of the people
identified with the incident came from his room.”
“Other members of the committee
the same views and believed that Ibrahim was one of the brains behind the
trouble,” it added.
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