Hundreds of people, members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), mainly Shiites, took to the streets in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, condemning the US-Israel attacks on Iran, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, security officers, and many civilians.
Business Day reports that this is coming barely 24 hours after Nigerian and security personnel were killed by armed bandits in the Niger and Borno states; unfortunately, there was silence on the part of northern leaders.
According to viral videos, protesters took to the streets of Northern States on Sunday in Niger, Gombe, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Kano.
Shiites in Nigeria, led by leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, had a protest on Sunday shortly after it was reported that Khamenei had been killed in an airstrike operation carried out on Iran by the United States and Israel military.
In some viral videos, the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) were seen on Sunday, chanting freedom to Iran, de@th to America, death to Trump, death to Israel
Also, the protesters were chanting solidarity slogans and waving Iranian flags and placards bearing the inscription “We Stand With Iran.”
In Kano, the largest city in these northern regions and home to a significant number of IMN supporters, the latter organised a five-kilometre march on Sunday, linking a mosque in the Fagge business district to the group’s headquarters in the Goron Dutse district.
They condemned the United States and Israel for the “unjustified” attacks that killed Ali Khamenei, his close associates, and members of his family, chanting “Death to America and Israel!” Some waved Palestinian flags.
“We are organising this procession in honour of the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei and to denounce the unjustified and barbaric American-Israeli aggression against Iran and its martyred leader,” said Umar Yakubu, who led the demonstration, at the end of the march.
“These attacks demonstrate the duplicity and unreliability of the United States and Israel, who launched them in the middle of negotiations,” he added.
The crowd chanted “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is great!”), while demanding an end to Western interference in the Middle East.
The IMN, which advocates an Iranian-style Islamic revolution in Nigeria, is in conflict with the Nigerian government, which has repressed it on several occasions.
But Yakubu urged his supporters not to resort to violence and to always follow the instructions of their leader Ibrahim Zakzaky, who lives in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
In December 2015, the Nigerian army raided Mr Zakzaky’s home in the northern town of Zaria after his supporters blocked the convoy of the then-Chief of Staff of the Nigerian Army during a religious ceremony outside the IMN headquarters.
The raid resulted in the deaths of some 350 members of the group, according to official figures.
