By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
    
At a time when the Muslim World, including Nigeria, is celebrating the blessed birthday of the Messenger of Mercy, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), would the government of President Mohmamdu Buhari follow the precepts of Islam to release from illegal detention the Leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, his ailing wife, and scores of his followers?
We are not sure what the person beliefs of Buhari are, in view of the fact that he ideologically adheres to the Wahhabi cultish regime of Aal-e Saudi, which frowns upon birthday celebrations for the Prophet of Islam, while politically he follows the pro-American Zionist agenda.
It were these factors which made him order to army to attack the revered Sheikh Zakzaky in Zaria on 15 December 2015 and to kill and injure over a thousand Nigerian citizens preparing to celebrate the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) at the Baqiatollah Hussainiya.
The Federal Court of Nigeria has long given orders for the release of the IMN Leader, but the president in a dictatorial manner, or perhaps on orders from Riyadh and Tel Aviv, continues to violate the constitution of the country, by refusing to obey the verdict.
The Shi’a Muslims of Nigeria, who number over ten million, have every right to avail of the country’s constitutional liberties, and should not be discriminated against.
They are neither a secret society nor a terrorist outfit like the Saudi-financed Boko Haram. As a matter of fact, according to a Nigerian intellectual, the Shi’as fully believe in "Boko” (western education), that is why they are everywhere – in business, politics, government, media, schools, and even the security services, among others. And that is why they do everything in the open.
They are not a danger to the society or the country, as mischievously claimed. The IMN believes in participatory politics and all other legitimate endeavours legalized by the national constitution, unlike Boko Haram, whose core beliefs are violence, organized terrorism, kidnapping, abusing women, and killing all those who do not believe in their crude ideology, which has nothing to do with Islam.
In view of these facts, the gruesome campaign to demonize the Shi’a Muslims, attack their gatherings, and kill them, on the assumption that they will die out, is a misplaced and misguided option.
The fact that what they are doing tallies with their constitutional rights makes the killing illegal and untenable and disturbingly smacks of a Saudi-Zionist plot.
Another thing those ordering the killing of Shi’a Muslims do not seem to know that such tactics of terror doesn’t scare the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt into submission, because martyrdom is glorified in the holy Qur’an and in hadith – a fact acknowledged by Sunni ulema as well.
The reality is that the regime’s campaign against the Shi’a Muslims has been criticized by Nigeria’s Sunni majority as well, in addition to their support by the Christians and Animists, all of whom believe that Buhari is trying to turn the country into a dictatorship by trying to meddle with the constitutionally guaranteed beliefs of citizens.  
Therefore, it is time for Buhari to stop state terrorism, release Sheikh Zakzaky (his wife and followers), pay compensation to the IMN, rebuild the Baqiatollah Hussainiya and guarantee that the army will not interfere in civilians affairs.