Police to treat Shiites as terrorists henceforth – IGP

.Says members of the proscribed group will be prosecuted using Terrorism Act

Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has vowed that henceforth, members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), popularly known as Shiites, would be treated as terrorists in line with a court order.

Adamu disclosed that any protester arrested in connection with the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria would be prosecuted under the Terrorism Act.

The inspector general, who spoke at a conference organised by the Force Headquarters for senior police officers on Tuesday, said that the recent activities of the group was a calculated attempt to plunge Nigeria into an ethno-religious war.

He stressed that increasing engagement of terror tactics, violent and subversive activities of IMN contravenes the Terrorism Prevention Act 2013 as amended.

According to him, with the judicial pronouncement of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Federal Government has classified them as a terrorist group and accordingly proscribed the El-Zakzaky-led IMN.

“In consequence, henceforth, any person engaged or associating, in any manner that could advance the activities of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria, shall be treated as a terrorist.

“Such person will be treated as an enemy of the state and a subversive element, and shall be brought to justice within the context of the Terrorism Act. The import of this is that all forms of procession or protest by IMN is now illegal and thus banned,” he said.

Adamu said that the police and other security agencies were fully committed to giving full effect to the judicial pronouncement in the interest of internal security and national cohesion and solicited for the support of the public in the provision of information that would help in identifying locations of IMN members and their mentors.

According to him, for purpose of clarification, Nigeria is a secular state with constitution provisions guaranteeing the freedom to practice our faiths, disclosing that the constitutional provision must be exercised in a manner that guarantees national security.

“All adherents of the Shiite sect in Nigeria remain free to continue to practice their faith and shall be guaranteed adequate security to so do as the judicial order does not stop them.

“The El-Zakzaky-led Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria which does not recognise nor accept the constitution and government of the federation is the sole organisation that has been classified as a terrorist organisation and proscribed,” he added.