Shiites Protest In Niger, Kano, Sokoto, Other Northern Cities Over Killing Of Iranian Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei

Thousands of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, otherwise known as Shiites, on Monday protested in the northern Nigerian cities of Kano and Sokoto among others condemning the US-Israel attacks on Iran, which killing no fewer than 555 persons including Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and scores of other senior security officers and civilians.

The demonstrations are coming against the backdrop of the killings of Nigerians and other security personnel by armed bandits in the Niger and Borno States, without the Northern leaders raising eyebrows. 

According to viral videos, protesters also took to the streets of Northern States on Sunday in Gombe and Kaduna. 

The Shiites in Nigeria, led by their leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, had earlier protested 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 the Israel military.

In some viral videos, the Shiite members were seen on Sunday, chanting freedom to Iran, de@th to America, death to Trump, death to Israel among other 

solidarity slogans and waving Iranian flags and placards bearing the inscription “We Stand With Iran.”

In Kano, the largest city in these northern region and home to a significant number of IMN supporters, the Shiites 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!” with some waving 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-brand of Islamic revolution in Nigeria, is in conflict with the Federal 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 A rmy raided Zakzaky’s home in the northern town of Zaria after his supporters blocked the convoy of the then-Chief of Army Staff, COAS, during a religious ceremony outside the IMN headquarters.

The raid resulted in the deaths of some 350 members of the group, and the long detention of El- Zakzaky. Source: Business Day.