The Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government into the December 12 clash in between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, and soldiers of the Nigerian Army yesterday heard how members of the movement had been making life unbearable for residents of Zaria.
The Zazzau Emirate Development Association, ZEDA, which gave the testimony at the continuation of the Commission’s sitting in Kaduna on Monday, said the IMN, led by Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who is currently in detention, through its activities, made other residents of the emirate live in perpetual fear.
The association’s spokesman, Mohammed Balarabe, told the panel that IMN took the law into its hands and shut roads while holding its processions.
Balarabe said whenever the movement had outings, they (people of Zaria emirate) were forced to stay indoors.
According to the ZEDA spokesman, the latest clash between the movement and the Army was not the first, noting that the group is violent.
He cited specific instances when the IMN had encounters with the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris and ex-Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero.
He also recalled that the movement had encounters with previous administrations in the state.
Balarabe said Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his followers were not members of ZEDA, adding that they refused to register with the association.
“We are familiar with the movement’s actions in the 20 years of its existence. As someone who attended the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, we know where the shoe pinches.
“Whenever we heard they had outings, we stayed away because it would bring hardship. They shut roads”, he said.
