By AbdulRaheem Aodu
Kaduna
Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) yesterday rejected the white paper released by the Kaduna state government on the December 12-14, 2015 clashes between Nigerian Army and IMN in Zaria, Kaduna state.
Kaduna state government had on December 5th, 2016, released the White Paper on the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that probed the clashes between the two organisations, where it declared IMN as an insurgent group blaming its leader and members for the December clashes, and holding them culpable for previous clashes in which they were involved.
Speaking through the leader of one of its wings, Shuhada Foundation, Sheikh Abdulhamid Bello, IMN stated categorically that “in this preliminary response, IMN has rejected in its entirely the contents of the white paper.”
It stated that “the purported release of the White Paper is a belated and malicious response to the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja, delivered on December 02, 2016; this is to give retroactive justifications to its hostile actions against IMN since 12th December, 2015.”
Asked if IMN was a registered organisation, Sheikh Bello said all organisations under IMN were registered, adding that “IMN is not registered because IMN is not a body, it is a phenomenon, it is not an organisation, it is like Islam and Christianity, can you register Islam; can you register Christianity? So, all organisations under IMN are registered.”
“From our preliminary analysis of the so called retroactive White Paper, the Kaduna state government rejected 99 per cent of the core recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry and only accepted the ones that suggested the unconstitutionally restriction of the activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and the continuation of hostile activities towards its property.
“We are convinced that the chairman and some members of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry will be regretting their participation in a Commission that was programmed to work from a predetermined conclusion but which found itself overwhelmed by the evidence of state sponsored genocide against the members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.
“While the Kaduna state government allegedly declared the Islamic Movement in Nigeria as an ‘unlawful society’ on the basis of the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, it forgot that it had not issued a White Paper on same”, he added.
