Shia members of the banned Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as the Shiites, and security personnel assigned to the convoy of Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai are said to have clashed, resulting in an indeterminate number of fatalities.
When the Governor traveled to mark off the rebuilding of the road that connects to the Kaduna International Airport, the event took place on Thursday in the Rigasa neighborhood along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Western bypass in the Igabi local government.
IMN supporters were protesting alongside the road, according to some local sources, and demanding that the Federal Government release their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El- Zakzaky, and his wife Zeenat’s foreign travel permits.
According to Mohammed Ibrahim, a participant in the procession, the IMN members were traveling to Bakinruwa along the freeway when they came upon the governor’s vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. He asserts that the security personnel connected to the Governor’s motorcade opened fire on the peaceful demonstrators right away, killing a number of them and injuring a number more.
A government official who traveled with the governor’s convoy told news correspondent that the shitte members were heavily armed with lethal weapons during the Procession and that when they spotted the governor’s convoy, they began attacking the vehicles with catapults and other lethal weapons, injuring some passengers in the vehicles as well as bystanders. The police authorities in Kaduna State have not yet commented on the incident.
He questioned why the security personnel would have fired on unarmed civilians while adding that the shitte members had already entered the parade with the intent of inciting violence in the state.
