March 17, 2023

An unspecified number of persons have been reportedly killed following a clash between the members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) popularly known as Shiites and security details attached to the Convoy of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state.

Channels Television reports that the incident happened on Thursday in the Rigasa area along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Western bypass in Igabi local government when the Governor went to flag off the reconstruction of the road that leads to the Kaduna International Airport.

According to some sources in the area, the governor’s convoy ran into the IMN members who were protesting along the road demanding the release of international travel documents of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El- Zakzaky, and his wife Zeenat by the Federal Government.

A member of the group, Mohammed Ibrahim told Channels Television that the IMN members started their Procession from Gwamna Road junction heading to Bakinruwa along the expressway when they met the Governor’s convoy coming in the opposite direction.

He claims that the security details attached to the Governor’s convoy immediately opened fire on the innocent protesters, and in the process killed some of their members and injured several others.

The police authorities in Kaduna State are yet to comment on the incident, but a government official who was in the Governor’s convoy told our correspondent that the shitte members were heavily armed with dangerous weapons during the Procession, and on sighting the governor’s convoy, they started attacking the vehicles with catapults and other dangerous weapons, and in the process injured some occupants of the vehicles and passers-by.

He wondered why the security details would have opened fire on innocent people unprovoked, noting that the shitte members already had a sinister motive to embark on the procession in a bid to cause violence in the state.