The group stated that the detainees arrested during the recent Arba’een Trek in Abuja are being denied access to legal representation and visits from family members.
Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), more commonly known as Shi’ites, have raised serious allegations against the Nigeria Police Force.
The group stated that the detainees arrested during the recent Arba’een Trek in Abuja are being denied access to legal representation and visits from family members.
Addressing the media in Abuja on Tuesday, Sheikh Rabiu Abdullahi, a prominent leader of the movement, expressed deep concerns over what he termed as ongoing human rights violations by the police authorities.
According to Abdullahi, scores of IMN members were arrested during the Arba’een Trek, an annual religious procession.
He explained that the police attacked a private primary school around Airport Road on Monday, destroying properties and arresting innocent people.
The group condemned the police for their actions at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada, FCT Abuja, on August 27, where patients were arrested and detained.
They recalled a similar incident in 2019, where patients, including Ja’afar Muhammad, were arrested and later died in police custody.
The group has also filed a contempt of court suit against the Inspector General of Police for failing to pay a N100 million fine awarded by the Federal High Court in Abuja for the unlawful detention and death of Ja’afar Muhammad in 2019.
The Shi’ites dismissed the police's claims that they are a proscribed organisation, asserting that they are a religious movement that cannot be banned.
They urged relevant authorities to intervene, release their members unconditionally, and put an end to further atrocities against them.
According Sheikh Abdullahi, “We wish to draw the attention of the public, including human rights organisations and relevant authorities, to the ongoing act of violence and lawlessness being carried out by the Nigerian Police Force.
“The police attacked a private primary school around Airport Road; destroyed public and private properties and arrested innocent people around the school. We have reasons to believe that this is an attempt to bury under the carpet the heinous crime they committed.
“Tuesday, August 27, 2024, around 9am, verifiable report reaching us revealed that the police attacked the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, FCT Abuja. The public could recall that the police conducted a similar operation in 2019 where they arrested patients in the hospital and detained them at SARS. And eventually, those arrested at the hospital died in police custody, and the police dumped their corpses at Asokoro District Hospital," he explained.
He said, “We would also like to draw the attention of the public to the fact that the Police Forces have denied our brothers and sisters, arrested on August 25, 2024, access to their families and lawyers. All the necessary efforts put in place to reach them and learn about their condition have been deliberately frustrated by security agents.
“We would like to condemn, in the strongest terms, this act of terror against our innocent brothers and sisters, whose only fault was exercising their legal rights as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.
“We would like to make it categorically clear that the Islamic Movement is not an organisation; it is a concept, an ideology, and a philosophy. And therefore, it could not be proscribed," he stated.
“We call upon relevant authorities and all well-meaning individuals to call the NPF to order before things get out of control. We demand the unconditional release of all those arrested during the 2024 Abuja Arba’een,” he added.