By Ime Akpan
A senior police officer, Mr. Umar Usman, was killed while offices and vehicles were torched during a violent clash between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) and the police in Abuja on Monday
Umar, a deputy commissioner of police in charge of operations at the FCT police command, was said to have been gunned down as he tried to pacify the Shi’ites who had disrupted commercial activities and vehicular movement during their protest at the Federal Secretariat.
He was immediately taken to an undisclosed hospital where he died.
Also, a youth corps member with Channels TV was said to have been hit by a stray bullet.
He was rushed to a hospital and was said to have been in a critical condition.
It was also learnt that the IMN, otherwise called Shi’ites attacked the Federal Secretariat Emergency Response and Ambulance Bay with petrol bombs and set ablaze two emergency vehicles and the entire bay estimated at N200 million.
The Islamic group also torched the sub-station of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and several of its vehicles were torched during the violent clash.
The sect’s members have been protesting against the continued detention of their leader, Ibraheem el-Zakzakky, who has been in custody for almost four years.
It was learnt that the Shi’ites had gathered at Nitel Junction in Wuse II district for a march to the federal secretariat complex in protest against the federal government’s continued detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and wife, Zeenat.
However, the demonstration was interrupted around the Three Arms Zone by armed security personnel who condoned off the area to prevent the protesters from continuing their planned protest.
While the fracas lasted, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) re-directed commuters and motorists to the Muhammadu Ribadu Road to link the main Asokoro outside the presidential villa.
Meanwhile, the senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, has said that the IMN in Nigeria should be celebrating the federal government’s decision to end its involvement in the trial of its El-Zakzaky.
Shehu, who stated this on a Channels Television, Sunday Politics’ slammed the group for its failure to accept the “olive branch” in the presidency’s response to the violent protests of the IMN members in Abuja.
“Those guys are not intelligent. If they had read our statement correctly, they would have seen an olive branch. What is the government saying? We are still open to dialogue and we are willing to abide by adjudication by the court of law.
“If the Nigerian government says, ‘Our hands are off that case’ (and) the attorney general and ministry of justice says “We no longer have a hand’; if those guys were intelligent, they should be celebrating this.”
Shehu said the Shiites should focus their energy on the ongoing case in Kaduna, adding that “whichever way it goes, the government would implement.”
“But assembling women and young kids and teaching them nothing to do other than insult President Muhammadu Buhari and the leaders of this country and you think that will take you somewhere?
“No, I’m sorry, those guys need to think and determine what is right for themselves. If the government were to use force, it is present. But by the decision of the President, we don’t push too hard and they shouldn’t push the government to the wall,” he said.
He further said the Shiites would see the Buhari administration’s preference for persuasion and its determination to “close this chapter if only they will seize the opportunity and seize the moment.”
“If they decide otherwise and they want to continue attacking the national assembly, throwing stones at the police and burning down police vehicles and they think the army and the police are meek and powerless, they shouldn’t test those elements,” he added.
