The Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, says he is hopeful that there is still bright future for Nigeria despite the present challenges.
El-Zakzaky spoke from his residence in Abuja via zoom at the occasion to mark the 6th anniversary of the Zaria Massacre with the theme, “Zaria Massacre: A Turning Point in Confronting Crimes against Humanity.”
According to the IMN leader, we need to rethink a future.
“Some people were asking me, is there any bright future for this country? I say, there is!
“We are not living in a hopeless society. Certainly, there is a hope, but the hope has to be in the people, not those in authority.
“We have no confidence in those in authority, because they are indifferent to what happens to the society.
“But the people have to rise up and urge for a better future for our society.
“We hope in the near future things may change for the better–that is our hope,” he said.
El-Zakzaky noted that human beings are bound to live together, and living together makes it necessary for them to have laws and rules and regulations that will govern their lives.
“The most fundamental of all the rights is the right to life (it is the right of every individual who finds himself alive).
“No-one can take away his life unless in a due process of law–meaning, if he has taken away the life of someone then it is a matter of necessity that his life also should be taken. Otherwise, no-one’s life should be taken.
“This right to life, including other rights, is enshrined in the Nigerian constitution, which those in authority always swear to protect,” he said.
He said it is however disheartening that in present society, citizen’s right to life is taken away.
“Those in authority think that they have the right to take the life of anyone at any moment.
“Extrajudicial killings have become an order of the day. Instruments of law enforcement that are employed to protect the law are now being used (by those in authority) to violate the law.
“Men in uniform are sent to unleash terror on people–soldiers, policemen and secret police, who do not wear uniforms.
“In fact, nowadays, they even wear terrorist garments–meaning, they hide their own faces in the same way terrorists do.
“The state has become an instrument of terrorism, that it has taught the people to be violent!
“People have been forced, due to circumstances, to become violent, because the state has become violent,” he lamented.
He said the society can never be in order unless those in authority respect the rights of other people.
“Those in authority think they are the law (or rather), above the law, that they can take the life of anybody at any moment.
“They care about no amount of talk, preaching or advice; they don’t simply care. They are indifferent to what happens to other people,” he added.
El-Zakzaky, who stressed that nobody has the right to take the lives of others, said: “you don’t even have the right to take your own life–nobody has the right to commit suicide.”
“Similarly, there is the right of environment, there is the right of all the living creatures, including animals; they have rights!
“The dead also have rights–the right to be honoured after their death with funeral that is in accordance with their own laws and cultures,” he said.
The IMN leader said “but, nowadays, you can see, those in authority think that they can kill and even burn the bodies or take them to an unknown destination and bury them in mass grave.
“The Zaria Massacre which happened six years ago is a case in question, where in three days the Nigerian Army cordoned the city of Zaria, including all the routes leading to the city, murdered over one thousand people and took all their bodies and bury them in different mass graves.
“On top of this, they arrested about five hundred people for alleged ‘murder’ of one soldier.
“Of course, all the courts have discharged and acquitted all those they had arraigned before them,” he remarked.
Other speakers at the event include Prof I. H. Mshelgaru of Building Department, Faculty of Environmental Design, Ahmadu Bello University; Ruhi Rizvi, a UK-based human rights activist, and Prince Deji Adeyanju, a convener from Concerned Nigeria, a human rights organisation.
