Jennifer Y Omiloli
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has disproved claims by the Minister of Information, Lai Muhammed, that the Shi’ites head, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, was being gone after for wrongdoings and not for his religious belief.
The development depicted its pioneer as a detainee of faith, demanding that El-Zakzaky was being arraigned for his religious belief.
The IMN said this in an announcement on Monday because of the minister’s response to the incorporation of Nigeria, Comoros, Russia, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Sudan in the Special Watch List of nations that had tolerated the serious infringement of religious freedeom.
US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, had declared in an announcement in Washington on Friday that Nigeria had been added to the SWL for participating in religious persecution.
Pompeo’s announcement followed the release of the 2018 report of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom, which recommended Nigeria’s designation as a country of particular concern.
The information minister had, in his reaction on Sunday, contested the placement of Nigeria on the list, noting that El-Zakzaky was facing trial for crimes against the state.
But the Shi’ites spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, in a statement said officials of the Muhammadu Buhari regime deserved to be held for allegedly engaging in extra-judicial killings.
