By Zailani Mustapha On May 31, 2024, police from the FCT Police Command arrested pro-Palestine protesters, including Ishaq Harun...
By Zailani Mustapha
On May 31, 2024, police from the FCT Police Command arrested pro-Palestine protesters, including Ishaq Haruna, Nura Attahir, Ali Muhammad, Abba Abdulkareem, and Abubakar Hamidu, at the National Mosque in Abuja. They are detained at the SARS Police Detention Facility in Garki, Abuja. Efforts by their families and lawyers to contact them have been unsuccessful.
This information was contained in a statement signed by Sheikh Sidi Munir Mainasara Sokoto on Sunday, June 30, 2024, on behalf of the Islamic movement under Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.
The statement expressed concerns regarding police professionalism and their role in preserving law and order.
"Despite Nigeria's support for Palestine, the police continue to arrest pro-Palestine protesters, prompting questions about potential Israeli influence within the Nigerian police," the statement said.
Below is the press statement:
PRESS RELEASE
POLICE DETAIN 6 PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTERS IN ABUJA AND DENY THEM ACCESS TO THEIR FAMILIES AND LAWYERS
We would like to draw the public's attention to a concerning act of unprofessionalism by the police. On May 31, 2024, a team from the FCT Police Command arrested pro-Palestine protesters within the premises of the National Mosque in Abuja. Those arrested include Ishaq Haruna, Nura Attahir, Ali Muhammad, Abba Abdulkareem, and Abubakar Hamidu. Reliable information confirmed that Ishaq Haruna and the others are being detained at the SARS Police Detention Facility in Garki, Abuja, known as the abattoir. All efforts by their families and lawyers to contact the arrested protesters have been unsuccessful.
Have police operatives cast caution to the wind and abandoned the principles they were employed to uphold? The police are supposed to preserve law and order.
It is well known that the Nigerian government supports the creation of the State of Palestine. Moreover, there is a Palestinian Ambassador in Nigeria, and there is also a Nigerian Ambassador to Palestine based in Egypt. Recently, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar stated that there is no justification for the carnage in Palestine.
Despite this, the police in Nigeria continue to arrest and detain pro-Palestine protesters. These actions raise many questions that need to be investigated. We need to know whether the Nigerian Police are working for Nigeria or Israel, or if there are some Israeli agents within the Nigerian Police promoting Israel's interests and supporting the massacre in Palestine.
These questions need answers because this is not the first time the police have conducted unprofessional and illegal operations. For instance, on May 7, 2021, around 14:30 hours, the police whisked Yahuza Haruna Masaka away to an undisclosed detention facility. To this day, they have viciously denied his family any access to him.
Yahuza Haruna arrived at Wuse, Zone 3, Abuja FCT, to participate in a pro-Palestine protest organized by the followers of Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky (H). After the protest, Yahuza Haruna tried to reach his younger sister (Rahma Salihu) to give her bus fare to return home. He saw her in a Toyota Coaster bus and moved closer to talk to her. Unknown to him, the bus and its occupants had been arrested by the police.
As the police saw him talking to his sister, they descended on him, beating him. The bus, with 62 people already under so-called arrest, was moved to Eagle Square.
At that point, Yahuza was handed over to a patrol team in a Hilux van, and the 62 people were moved to Eagle Square. At Eagle Square, the police tortured them inhumanely, even using electric shocks, which led to the sudden and unfortunate demise of Naziru Mu’azu from Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State. Additionally, 44 people sustained varying degrees of critical injuries.
Although Yahuza’s younger sister, Rahma Salihu, was taken to the Anti-Vice Unit of the Police, Wuse Zone 5, and later released, all efforts to locate Yahuza Haruna over the past three years have been unsuccessful. Abduction has become rife in Nigeria, but it is sad and disastrous for the police to behave this way.
We condemn the unlawful abduction and detention of Yahuza Haruna Masaka, Ishaq Haruna, Nura Attahir, Ali Muhammad, Abba Abdulkareem, and Abubakar Hamidu by the FCT Police, and we demand their unconditional release.
Sheikh Sidi Munir Mainasara Sokoto,
For the Islamic Movement, under the leadership of His Eminence Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky (H),
June 30, 2024
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