The Iranian government is asking that the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria be released to them for medical care.
Iran says the continued detention of Ibrahim El Zakzaky is illegal and unfair.
This is fueling concerns that Iran’s position is likely to lead to a strain in relations between Tehran and Abuja.
The Shi’ite movement came into Nigeria following the 1979 revolution of Iran, and the replacement with the Islamic Republic.
It has some groups who have taken on its teachings and philosophy, the most prominent being the Islamic Movement of Nigeria led by Ibraheem El- Zak Zaky.
Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who was in 1979, a student of the Ahmadu Bello University broke out from the Muslim Students Society to start the shia group in Nigeria affiliated to the Iran’s Shi’ite movement.
Nigeria’s majority muslims are Sunnis affiliated to Saudi Arabia, which has continually pitced the continent against Iran’s Shia sect and caused rivalry among muslims of the two sects.
The Shiite’s ultimate goal is to create an Islamic state, according to the Khomeini’s ideology, and the allegiance of the Islamic Movement to the Islamic Republic of Iran, may explain why it has little regard for constituted authority.
It may explain the group’s several clashes aginst the government starting from the military government in the 80s and 90s
Most recently its confrontations came to a head with its challenging the convoy of the Chief of Army staff in 2015 and this led to the incarceration of Sheikh El- Zak Zaky and his wife, Zinat Ibrahim
The group had initially held non violent demonstrations on the streets of Abuja, demanding the release of its leader, but in recent weeks its demonstrations turned violent
The most recent clash between police and the Shi’ite group led to the death of about 11 of their members and other innocent Nigerians, including the Youth Corper with Channels Television, Precious Owolabi
While this has not helped the case of the sect leader, the Shiite demonstrations took on an international dimension with protests taking place outside the Nigerian embassy London.
The London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission, (IHRC), had previously called on the Nigerian government to immediately release the cleric and send him abroad for urgent medical treatment.
The Iranian Prosecutor-General has also lent his support, asking the Nigerian judicial authorities to support the release of El-Zakzaky
In same vein, the Country’s foreign Affairs spokesperson took to twitter to condemn the police dispersal of the protesting Shi’ite members tagging it a human right abuse
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