We view developments in Kaduna State arising from the ban on the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as the Shi’ite-Islamic sect, with grave concern.

The group was involved in a bloody face-off with the Nigerian Army in December 2015, an encounter which by official accounts led to the death of over 300 members of the sect.

The Kaduna State Government had constituted a judicial panel of inquiry on the crisis. Though the Shi’ites did not appear before the panel due to what they saw as its biased stance, the government went ahead to act on the panel’s recommendation to ban the group.

The government’s justification was based on the panel’s findings that the IMN is an unregistered group which does not recognize or respect the constitution and laws of Nigeria. It was also found that the group maintains an illegal paramilitary wing.

The announcement of the ban on Friday, October 7, 2016, has been met with indifference by the group which has continued with its activities as before.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State derived his authority to ban the group from Section 45 (1) of the Constitution which confers on the Governor of a state, the powers to take such actions as are necessary for the promotion and protection of public safety, public order, and the rights and freedom of all persons in the state.

The state government also claimed to have acted upon Section 97(A) of the Penal Code (Cap 110, Laws of Kaduna State, 1991), which grants the Governor the right to proclaim any organisation whose activities are deemed dangerous to the security and good governance of the state as an unlawful society.

The group’s activities, notably, its processions and blockage of public highways have undoubtedly not earned it much pity among non-members of the group. However, given the great influence of the sect over a segment of the population in the North, its outright ban could create security problems.

We advise both the state and federal authorities to apply caution in handling this group. More efforts should be made to constructively engage them to gain their confidence in the capacity of the system to accommodate their interests without compromising the supremacy of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

We must do all in our power not to unnecessarily push any group to take the law into their own hands because of feelings of alienation or oppression. We must learn useful lessons from the events that led Boko Haram to grow from ragtag a Islamist urban outlaw gang to a terror group that has cost Nigeria so much in terms of human lives, property and funds and precipitated huge refugee crises.