The proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), on Tuesday, petitioned the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) over the shooting at Lekki, Lagos State, where a number of #EndSARS protesters were allegedly killed while scores injured by the Nigerian soldiers.
The petitions, written by the Academic Forum of the Islamic movement (AFIMN), were addressed to the UN Resident Coordinator, EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, and the executive secretary, National Human Rights Commission.
Members of the IMN, who stormed the headquarters of the three offices in Abuja, said they demanded for the prosecution of the perpetrators of the Lekki massacre.
The Secretary of the AFIMN, Abdullahi Muhammad Musa, recalled that in the country, “Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub El-Zakzaky and his supporters are the first community to be on the receiving end of oppression and injustice of the Buhari regime when the Nigerian Army groundlessly descended upon us in December of the year 2015, gunning people down in a vicious manner and destroying property with gay abandon.”
Musa said it was disheartening that insecurity has long since become both a canker and a cancer, particularly in the north.
According to him, there is no part of the country in which Nigerian citizens can feel safe from falling victim to police brutality.
“Therefore, the seemingly endless injustice arouses the cumulative grievances of youths, embarking on nationwide peaceful protests against the savage brutality of the regime’s enforcers,” he said.
He commended “the energetic Nigerian youths” who, he said, had united in the face of injustice.
“Although the series of protests started with great coordination, they were subsequently sabotaged by regime infiltrators.
“Convincing evidences have patently shown how sponsored thugs were deployed by security agents to disrupt the protests in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and other major cities across the country.
“These deliberate acts by the regime was done in order to provide itself with an excuse to carry out a pre-planned and premeditated mass murder of protesters, which was subsequently carried out by the Nigerian Army at Lekki on 20th October, 2020.
“Already, in Abuja, there are cogent proofs on how security agents infiltrate the daily free-Zakzaky protests, most especially on the 22nd of July, 2019.
“But in spite of the infiltration, they woefully failed in their attempt to sabotage it. Coordination truly makes it difficult for security agents to divert or seize control of the clamour against injustice or to even change its purpose,” he said.
Musa, who strongly condemned the attacks on peaceful protesters, infiltration of the protests and the Lekki massacre, welcomed the commencement of the probe on the killings by the state government.
“Stakeholders should ensure that the probe leads to the prosecution of perpetrators.
“We hope that it does not follow the example of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry [JCI] set up by Kaduna State Government on the Zaria massacre in 2016.
“Recall that the JCI conducted the probe and its report blamed the Army, the Federal and State Governments, but the report has since been laid off to gather dust.
“While the perpetrators remain free and active in regime’s employment, none of the victims has ever received so much as a kind word. In fact the majority of them remained imprisoned until recently. Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife are still in detention,” he stated.
Musa, who urged Nigerians to continue to unite to ensure their voices are heard, insisted that perpetrators of the act must be brought to book.
