[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hat an irony, a government whose major agenda is fight against terrorism turning out to becoming a leading terror perpetrator. Yes a leading terror perpetrator as depicted in the worst genocide ever to be recorded in Nigeria, the 12th -14th of December 2015 Zaria massacre of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, the largest Shi’ite (Shia) sect in Nigeria.
It is generally believed by observers and onlookers that the clampdown on Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) members in Zaria by the Nigerian Army was pre-planned and executed with a particular goal and objective that is not in the interest of the country but in the interest of a proxy.
The level of preparedness, mode of operation, manner of execution and the management and control of the attack by the Nigerian government, Army, Kaduna state government, some traditional rulers, leading Wahhabi scholars and some media outlets were never coincidental as they all point to the fact that everything was planned.
A lot of right-thinking people have wondered how an ordinary suggested traffic disagreement could lead to such incessant mass murder that took place un-resisted for over 36 hour with the only statement coming from the Nigerian President on the matter coming after a fortnight when he was forced to comment by a team of journalists during a media chat. And when he commented he affirmed the mischief theory even claiming that he saw the chest of a general being hit by miscreants whereas the mischievous video edited and produced by the perpetrators of the genocide, the Army showed the opposite.
All the indicators surrounding the unfortunate extra-judicial killings direct to the fact that it was with the consent and instructions of the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces that it took place. The presidential body language and its first public response on the massacre are all indicators that it is a state project.
More so, jumping from one official reason for the massacre to another by the Army is yet another indicator. In addition to that also the attempt by the Chief of Army Staff and his clique to hide the figures of those they murdered and mass buried by claiming shamelessly that he killed only seven is yet another indicator that it was a plot.
The basic concept of terrorism is that of instilling fear, intimidation and creating unhealthy suspense in the victims without an established goal. There are several types of terrorism with religious terrorism being one of the most popular today.
As rightly stated by the Russian President Vladmir Putin, over 95% of the terrorist attacks are perpetrated by the CIA and almost all the terrorist organizations across the world are nurtured by the Americans, Israelis and Saudis to meet their mischievous political goals.
No terror organization has any social, political or economic plans for the people and there is hardly any terror group that has established a successful society anywhere at any time in history. Terrorist leaders are not known to the public, they don’t run social programs, they don’t own media outfits, they don’t build schools or hospitals for the public, the only thing they do is detonate bombs and shoot at people sporadically.
More so, in many cases it has always turned out that the beneficiaries of terrorism are always behind its activities. It is easy to understand that the terrorists have strong support when one asks how they manage to get state of the art machinery and weapons.
Definitely one would not expect a tattered looking person that is poverty stricken to be so rich as to own an AK 47 machine gun that would cost almost N300,000:00 loaded with life ammunitions that would cost another N100,000:00 when from all indications he hardly feeds well. You will see terrorists with tens of brand new Hilux vans and jeeps as if they have factories in their terror camps. How they come about all these machinery and funds is yet another mystery.
Although people are deceived in to believing that the terrorists attack police and military armories and cart away weapons through dramatic operations they stage. They forget that they feed the same public with flimsy excuses that the terrorists are more armed than they are because they possess more sophisticated weapons. If at all it is true that the terrorist rely on those weapons they steal from their armories then the Army can never claim that the terrorists are better armed than them. But the truth is that they are more sophisticated and even seem to be having many lives as they get killed and resurrected several times. What a drama.
It is such that even the state military shamelessly claim that the terrorists are more armed than them a reason they always advance in defense of their lack of gallantry. Who is arming, funding, feeding and protecting the terrorists and who is giving them diplomatic protection?
Another form of terrorism called state terrorism is that of terror directed on civilians by the state for political or other purposes. This form of terrorism is the one that took place in Zaria and perpetrated by the Buhari regime.
Their intention was to simply kill the IMN leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, disperse his followers and outlaw the movement simply because America, Israel and Saudi Arabia see the IMN as a threat to their interest of exploiting Nigeria’s Human and natural resources. He is the only obstacle they see in dispensing their neo colonial ideals and the implementation of modern colonialism.
They feel they should get rid of the Sheikh they call “Mr. Zakzaky” because he is fast extending true awareness to the people who are likely to oppose their plans of exploitation and domination. They could not allow the largest black nation endowed with both human and natural resources to fall out of their control and authority. They could not withstand the Sheikh’s message of unity and serenity among not only the large Muslim population but also the Christians who see hope in his call.
This could lead to the emancipation of the West African bloc and the continent at large. As a result of that they are afraid of Sheikh Zakzaky and should do anything to cut him off from the public. So they literarily bribed the Nigerian officials including the Presidency, Army, Kaduna State Governor and some Wahabi/Salafi clerics to wipe out the Shiite group.
They accepted the contract and descended mercilessly on those patriotic Nigerians for their crime of seeking a way out for Nigeria. They government thereby engaged in an act of state terrorism to instill fear on people, intimidate them and disperse them to please their gods in America, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
They launched the most brutal attack on a civilian enclave ever to have taken place in the history of Nigeria since inception. The soldiers who acted like zombies came in chanting war songs against a constitutionally accepted religion they destroyed Islamic literature including the holy Qur’an which they marched on and molested. They were carrying machine guns, rocket launchers and armored personnel vehicles as though they were going to war with another army.
All that display of gallantry was to attack unarmed women, children and youth, what a big shame. To worsen matters, it is based on this stupidity displayed by the army on innocent unarmed civilians that the Chief of Army Staff is hailed as being brave. What is brave in killing unarmed women and children when as a trained killing machine you are armed to the teeth? His clique members among the Wahaabi/Salafi clerics promoted him as “Sayyid Ayatullah Burutai” which he is so pleased with because he had never publicly denounced it even as he reads it daily on the social media.
What is more is that those from among the public most especially the Wahhabi/Salafists and blind Buhari followers that support the massacre and hail the COAS all believe and see it as a plot to wipe out the IMN for which reason they hail President Buhari, Gen. Buratai and Governor El-Rufai describing them as Sunni heroes while they themselves as politicians use those terror acts to promote themselves politically in their circles.
During the terror attack the Army shot at innocent unarmed civilians summarily and extra-judicially killing them and molesting women. They cut the breasts of women with bayonets and punched their private parts with sharp objects. They gather people in rooms and set them ablaze burning them alive. The elder sister of Sheikh Zakzaky and his nephew were victims of this devilish terrorism by the army. She was shouting “are you going to burn us alive?” and that was how she died after being burned to ashes.
They followed the corpses of IMN members one after the other to make sure they were dead and anyone that was not dead they shot at close range. They employed the services of jobless rogues and thugs to help them molest the corpses of those they killed. Those rogues and thugs scavenged the corpses and stole their personal possessions including phones and pocket money while the soldiers watched on. They stole rings from finger of the corpses and in some cases even cutting off the fingers to remove the rings. The soldiers stole away monies gathered in donation drums at the Hussainiyya Baqiyyatullah.
They cordoned off the areas they attacked and washed off blood stains and picked away all the bullet and bombshells in the scenes while the state Governor Nasir El-Rufai used state machinery to demolish the bombed and burned buildings and packed away the rubbles to unknown destination all in effort to sweep away evidences of their terror-laden operation on IMN.
All these acts of terrorism by the Army were made to scare away and disperse the IMN members but have not succeeded. To cap it all up, the government at all levels went further to launch campaigns of calumny against the IMN and disallow the public from hearing any statement from the mouth of the IMN leader lest they get exposed. As Nigerians remain hungry and in incessant hardship and difficulty with an all-time high level inflation wrecking families and individuals government is busy spending public resources to satisfy the interest of some foreigners by killing innocent unarmed civilians with nothing to show.
It is all these and many more terrorist acts perpetrated by the Army on the IMN that have drawn the attention of human rights organizations with international reputation and integrity to calling on the Nigerian government to come clean on Zaria Massacre. Reports by the Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Islamic human Rights commission of London (IHRC) all pointed to the same human rights violation perpetrated by the Army on innocent unarmed civilians.
The Amnesty went to the root of the matter and made a lot of discoveries that have angered the Army into insulting the Amnesty and sponsoring misguided and hungry elements to threaten the AI personnel in Abuja: a very shameful scene that brought disrepute to the Buhari regime in the international scene.
Nigerians are duty bound to speak out against state terrorism being perpetrated by the Nigerian government.
Abdulmumin Giwa is a human rights activist who advocated on behalf of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
