We Don't Owe You Any Any Apology - Army Blasts Shiite Sect
The Nigerian army has spoken out one again about the recent clash it had with the Shiite Islamic movement in Zaria.
Tukur Buratia
The Nigerian Army has said it does ot owe the Islamic Movement of
Nigeria, also known as Shiites, any apology over the clash involving it
and members of the sect.
This Day reports that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major. Gen. Adebiyi Oyebade, while speaking on wednesday in Kaduna, said the military operation against the group’s headquarters in Zaria on December 12, 2015 was to avert possible outbreak of law and order by members of the sect.
According to him, members of the sect from all their enclave in Zaria were mobilising to cause mayhem after they were dispersed for attempting to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai.
Oyebade, who stated this while reviewing activities of the Division in the last six months at a press conference, said the situation would have been avoided if the sect members had not attack soldiers who were deployed for a stop and search at the three enclaves of the sect in Zaria.
According to him, “What happened on that very day was totally avoidable, but again you have to go back to history to know the antecedents of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
“On that very day, a call was made to a close aide of El-Zakzaky because the man was the only person who can allow the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff to pass. We made the call and after the call, the person switched off his phone.
“We conducted that operations because we got a report that they were mobilising and they were attacking some of our troops deployed in Zaria as part of their internal security duties.
“As the GOC, it was my responsibility to find out what was going wrong, what was happening that they were mobilising. Don’t forget, the Chief of Army Staff was still in Zaria. I was getting feed back from my field commanders.
“They were mobilising within their three enclaves and we took a decision that we need to contain the situation before it springs out into a bigger problem. The first thing we did when such threats became so evident was to conduct stop and search operations in order to get out all those carrying arms.
-“That was our objective that night. I gave instructions to my men to ensure as much as it is feasible that there are no casualties, especially women and children because from the reports I was getting, I knew there was going to be stand offs.-
“We notified the police that we are in Zaria. The police in Zaria is small, and if you go into history, the sect has always been a problem in Zaria well over 30 years.
“We went in with megaphones to tell the people that we are just conducting stop and search and we asked them to just come out quietly. Well over 1,000 people came out, men, women and children in their hundreds came out.
“There were sand bags check points leading to Zakzaky’s house. They were attacking the troops with stones, catapults, machetes. There were group of boys and girls jumping and surging with sticks and machetes. Of course the troops had to defend themselves."
This Day reports that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major. Gen. Adebiyi Oyebade, while speaking on wednesday in Kaduna, said the military operation against the group’s headquarters in Zaria on December 12, 2015 was to avert possible outbreak of law and order by members of the sect.
According to him, members of the sect from all their enclave in Zaria were mobilising to cause mayhem after they were dispersed for attempting to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai.
Oyebade, who stated this while reviewing activities of the Division in the last six months at a press conference, said the situation would have been avoided if the sect members had not attack soldiers who were deployed for a stop and search at the three enclaves of the sect in Zaria.
According to him, “What happened on that very day was totally avoidable, but again you have to go back to history to know the antecedents of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
“On that very day, a call was made to a close aide of El-Zakzaky because the man was the only person who can allow the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff to pass. We made the call and after the call, the person switched off his phone.
“We conducted that operations because we got a report that they were mobilising and they were attacking some of our troops deployed in Zaria as part of their internal security duties.
“As the GOC, it was my responsibility to find out what was going wrong, what was happening that they were mobilising. Don’t forget, the Chief of Army Staff was still in Zaria. I was getting feed back from my field commanders.
“They were mobilising within their three enclaves and we took a decision that we need to contain the situation before it springs out into a bigger problem. The first thing we did when such threats became so evident was to conduct stop and search operations in order to get out all those carrying arms.
-“That was our objective that night. I gave instructions to my men to ensure as much as it is feasible that there are no casualties, especially women and children because from the reports I was getting, I knew there was going to be stand offs.-
“We notified the police that we are in Zaria. The police in Zaria is small, and if you go into history, the sect has always been a problem in Zaria well over 30 years.
“We went in with megaphones to tell the people that we are just conducting stop and search and we asked them to just come out quietly. Well over 1,000 people came out, men, women and children in their hundreds came out.
“There were sand bags check points leading to Zakzaky’s house. They were attacking the troops with stones, catapults, machetes. There were group of boys and girls jumping and surging with sticks and machetes. Of course the troops had to defend themselves."
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