Richmond C. Amadi is an independent journalist, Book Publisher, member of RSU Alumni, Researcher (currently researching with Researchgate.net), Writer, Motivational Speaker. He is a BSc Holder in Office and Information Management, and Diploma holder in Management all from Rivers State University. Currently doing his MSc with RSU. Contact him on Richmond.amadi@ust.edu.ng or Amadirichmondc@gmail.com All Social Platforms: @amadirichmondc
The Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, (Shi’ites) has disassociated from the death of Deputy Commissioner Usman Musa and Channels Television reporter, Precious Owolabi.
The dual were killed during bloody clash between members of IMN and Nigeria Security operatives during a peaceful protest by the movement.
This was contained in a press statement made public by the President, Media Forum of the Islamic Movement, Ibrahim Musa on Tuesday evening.
The movement, which has described the death of DCP Usman as “a victim of friendly fire”, said members of the movement do not carry weapons, therefore, could not be responsible for the deaths.
In his words: “Yesterday the Nigeria police force headquarters issued a press statement in which it ascribed the death of DCP Usman A.K Umar in particular to the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the leadership of the illegally detained Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.
“We vehemently condemn such insinuation which we believe was done in bad taste to once again tarnish our hard earned credit as the only non-violent Movement in the country.
“A quick analysis of images and video clips showed that the Free Zakzaky procession was peacefully progressing prior to the brutal crackdown. It also clearly showed that the protesters weren’t bearing arms as usual and traffic was moving smoothly without hindrance.
“Furthermore, the images also showed the police, armed to the teeth, were intent on stopping the movement of the protesters, at all cost. Few other policemen and plain cloth security agents were seen piling used tyres for use to set bonfires. By the time the police struck, about a dozen members of the Islamic Movement had been killed. The police were seen picking the corpses to an undisclosed location, perhaps for mass burial.
“Also shot were the Channels TV reporter, Precious Owolabi and their colleague, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, whom photographs showed was struck from the back of his head with the bullet exit in front, an indication that he was a victim of friendly fire.”
“It is a known fact among the intelligence community that you don’t retreat from a mob with your back turned against them. This is one of the tenets of crowd control for law enforcement agencies. As if to hide this fact, the late policeman was hurriedly buried without any form of postmortem examination, which would have revealed the source of the bullet.
“It seems the security agents strategically killed the Journalist to turn the media against us. They also killed the police officer to incite the security community against us and to stigmatise us.”
