Nigerian Shias Muslims’ Muharram ceremonies under army crackdown

Shia Muslims in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State have demanded that authorities stop ongoing crackdown on worshippers participating in mourning ceremonies during the Month of Muharram.

Shia Muslims in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State have demanded that authorities stop ongoing crackdown on worshippers participating in mourning ceremonies during the Month of Muharram.

According to sources the latest episode of denial of their right to worship by El-Rufai occurred on Friday, a day marking the beginning of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. 

On Saturday also, governor El-Rufai ordered armed security agents to disperse Shia Muslims participating at Muharram mourning ceremonies. According to sources, the situation was tense adding that, “it was through Allah’s grace that loss of lives was averted in Kaduna and Zaria.”

A similar thing happened last year in the same Kaduna when the governor used a combination of these security forces and hired thugs to brutally attack mourners resulting in the death of scores of Shia Muslims. Security forces also torched a religious center and school as well as the unjustified detention of many others to date.