Zaria: Christians and Muslims protest in Rivers and Abia

Abia and Rivers states were agog on Monday, February 15, as members of the Islamic movement in Nigeria (IMN) staged a peaceful protest in major areas within the two states.
The protesters were seen demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the IMN leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, his wife and other detained members of the movement including women and children.

A press conference was held after the procession in Rivers state to further drive home the message of the sect and their bitterness regarding the continued detention of Shiite followers.

Some Christians supporting the Shiites in their struggle for the release of their spiritual leader

After the protest in Rivers state, a press conference was held

Protests in support of the Sheikh Zakzaky were carried out in two major cities within the southeast of Nigeria

Meanwhile, the Shiites on Wednesday, February 17, asked the chief judge of Kaduna state and the Kaduna Judicial Service Commission to investigate certain procedural irregularities in the conduct of Chief Magistrate Awal Umar of chief magistrates court I, Kaduna.

The IMN spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, said: “The chief judge of Kaduna state must investigate the deliberate procedural irregularity perpetrated by the chief magistrate 1 Ibrahim Taiwo road Kaduna.”

According to The Vanguard, IMN alleged that the said magistrate played a role in oppressing the sect by signing the detention warrants of some of its members without a fair hearing.

Recently the IMN claimed that the Nigerian army defiled sisters of the sect during the alleged massacre in Zaria. The Islamic group staged a protest with many of the demonstrators singing a defiant song which meant the truth cannot be suppressed by gunshots , voicing their anger over the alleged extra-judicial killings of women and children by the Nigerian soldiers.

In the same vein, the Shiites have expressed

gratitude for the kindness shown to them by Christians

. “For all the support and solidarity of our Nigerian Christian brothers and sisters in humanity, we say we are grateful. With these your actions you showed us that humanity is one and that we are not enemies of each other,” an IMN statement on ABNA 24 partly read.