A group, Lawyers Initiative for Civil Rights Advancement in Nigeria, LICRAN, has forwarded a petition to the United States Embassy in Nigeria, bringing to its notice the imminent security threat posed by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, otherwise known as Shi’ite, in the country.
The group, in the letter it addressed to the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, insisted that Shi’ites had posed several security threat not just to Nigeria, but also to other west African countries.
The letter, which was signed by LICRAN Director of Research & Advocacy, Unande Tersagh, Esq., a copy of which was made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday, described the IMN as an Iranian-backed rebel group, alleging that it is within public domain that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been harassing Nigeria using members of the IMN.
The United States, U.S, had recently expressed deep concern over reports of the deaths of dozens of Nigerians involved in clashes between individuals participating in a Shi’ite procession and the police in Kano State, calling on the Nigerian government to protect and defend the rights of IMN members
The group of legal practitioners equally copied the letter of petition to the British High Commissioner, German Ambassador and the UN mission in Nigeria.
Tersagh said contrary to reports by those he described as IMN propaganda machine that there is a clamp down on Shiism in Nigeria, it is members of the sect that have been harassing innocent Nigerians.
He urged the ambassador to prevail on the US government to declare the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) as a terror organization bearing in mind that their modus operandi is strikingly similar to that of Boko Haram, Al-Shabab and ISIS.
The group, in the letter it addressed to the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, insisted that Shi’ites had posed several security threat not just to Nigeria, but also to other west African countries.
The letter, which was signed by LICRAN Director of Research & Advocacy, Unande Tersagh, Esq., a copy of which was made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday, described the IMN as an Iranian-backed rebel group, alleging that it is within public domain that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been harassing Nigeria using members of the IMN.
The United States, U.S, had recently expressed deep concern over reports of the deaths of dozens of Nigerians involved in clashes between individuals participating in a Shi’ite procession and the police in Kano State, calling on the Nigerian government to protect and defend the rights of IMN members
The group of legal practitioners equally copied the letter of petition to the British High Commissioner, German Ambassador and the UN mission in Nigeria.
Tersagh said contrary to reports by those he described as IMN propaganda machine that there is a clamp down on Shiism in Nigeria, it is members of the sect that have been harassing innocent Nigerians.
He urged the ambassador to prevail on the US government to declare the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) as a terror organization bearing in mind that their modus operandi is strikingly similar to that of Boko Haram, Al-Shabab and ISIS.