Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has warned the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government against any attempt to proscribe the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).
The group’s members, popularly called Shiites, were involved in a violent clash in Abuja on Monday, leading to the death of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Umar, a young Channels TV reporter, Precious Owolabi, and an unconfirmed number of Shiites.
The Shiites were protesting the continued detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
Several groups, including the Coalition of Ohanaeze Youth Groups, have called on the Federal Government to ban IMN since the clash.
However, taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Fani-Kayode warned against banning the group, saying doing so would be an infringement on the group’s freedom of worship as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
The ex-minister said it would further worsen tensions between IMN and the authorities.
He wrote: The biggest mistake that @MBuharican make is to ban the IMN. The Shia Muslims have every right to practice their faith just as the Sunni Muslims and Christians do. Nigeria is a secular state where freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed..
You cannot lock up the leader of the Shia Muslims indefinately against court orders, ban them as an organisation and then expect peace. It would be a rmonumental and costly error and a recipe for disaster and chaos. Buhari beware! You cannot fight the whole of Nigeria!
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