The presidency of Nigeria announced that it banned the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, a religious and political organization, due to its criminal deeds.
“GOVERNMENT OUTLAWED CRIMINALITY OF IMN [the Islamic Movement in Nigeria], NOT FREEDOM OF WORSHIP — PRESIDENCY,” the presidency tweeted.
According to the presidency, the group “is deliberately changing the narrative in order to gain sympathy and divert the attention of the world from its terrorist activities. Among these activities are attacks on soldiers, killing police officers and destroying public property, it added.
“The Presidency regrets that despite all efforts by the government and other well-meaning Nigerians to make the IMN militants to see reason and abandon violence, such appeals fell on deaf ears as they killed, maimed and destroyed willfully, constituting daily nuisance to workers, commuters and other innocent citizens,” the statement added.
The IMN has been staging regular rallies to demand the release of their leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been in prison for nearly four years. The group’s leader was detained in 2015 during an army operation in the city of Zaria that left at least 348 people dead. Zakzaky has been seeking an Islamic revolution in Nigeria similar to the one that happened in Iran.
Nigeria bans Islamic movement in Country – Presidency
