Despite Ban, Shiites Vows To Proceed With Procession Tomorrow

Members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) popularly known as Shiites has announced that they will embark on a procession billed for Tuesday, September 10.

IMN, through its spokesperson , Ibrahim Musa in a video made exclusively available to Channels Television described the procession as “yearly peaceful Ashura procession,” adding that it will hold in major cities across the country.

In addition, Musa disclosed that the procession is aimed at mourning their members which were brutally killed.

“The procession is to mourn the massacre of the prophet’s grandson who was brutally killed on the 10^th of Muharram which coincides with tomorrow, 10^th of September.

“In fact, this peaceful mourning will take place in various European countries including New York, London. Not to talk of places like Massard in Iran and Eastern part of Saudi Arabia,” he said in the video.

The spokesperson stressed that the procession will hold despite the alleged plan of Nigeria Police to disrupt the procession.

“This Ashura event has been taking place in the country for decades unnoticed because security authorities do not attack us.

“We wonder why this administration decides to attack us just because we are expressing our religious duties,” he said.

He insisted that the Shiites group are “peace-loving people. Just like Islam is a religion of peace.”

The announcement of a procession by the group is coming even as the police had said that no group should hold protest or procession on major streets in the nation’s capital without a permit.