Proscription: Shiites Blame New Woes On Saudi Arabia

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria on Tuesday said its designation as a terrorist group by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had the backing of Saudi Arabia.

The group through its Spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, in an interview with one of our correspondents in Kaduna, said the Buhari administration designated the IMN, also known as Shi’ites, as a terrorist organisation to eliminate its leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The Shi’ites also alleged that Buhari wanted them to go underground to enable the Federal Government to embark on a massive destruction and killing of innocent Nigerians and security agents.

Why adducing reason for the President’s action, Musa said, “He wants to kill our leader. He wants to force us to go underground so that he could finish up the country by embarking on massive destruction and killing of innocent Nigerians and security personnel in our name.

“It was among the conditions he was given by the foreign foes of Nigeria, especially the Wahhabi/Salafi regime of Saudi Arabia.

“No degree of persecution by these sponsors of Book Haram and herdsmen can force us to go underground.

“The public and the international community should know that the Buhari regime is dominated by Boko Haram and herdsmen ideologues who are pathological enemies of Shi’ites Islam and Muslims.

“All the terrorist groups in the world who claim to be Sunni Muslims are not real Sunnis. They are Salafists (ex-communicators) who share the same ideology with the president and majority members of cabinet. This is because most of the victims of Boko Haram and their foreign brethren in Syria, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, Libya etc are mainstream Sunnis, Shia and Christians.”

But the Embassy of Saudi Arabia could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. It had yet to respond to an email on the allegations levelled against it by the Shi’ite movement as of the time of filing this report.

Anybody can say anything, Presidency replies Shi’ites

However, the Presidency reacted to the allegation in Abuja on Tuesday, saying that anybody was entitled to their opinion.

Responding to an enquiry by The PUNCH, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, simply stated, “Anybody can say anything. Anybody can say whatever they like. That is all that I have to say.”