Shi’a movement in Nigeria renews its violence

Iran is stepping up its expansionist policy in West Africa

Nahla Abdel-Monem

A pro-Iran Shi’a movement in Nigeria last week renewed its violent demonstrations. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) protesters demanded the release of their leader Ibrahim el-Zikzaki, in custody for 34 months.

The spokesman of the Nigerian army said that three people were killed as clashes erupted in Abuja on Monday last week between the army and IMN’s protesters. But the Shi’a movement claimed that dozens were killed when its demonstrators demanded freedom to el-Zikzaki, who is also the founder of the Shi’a movement.  The IMN launched violent protests 10 months ago over the alleged deterioration of the leader’s health.

Monday violence deepened concerns in Nigeria that Iran has decided to step up its attempts to expand the Shi’a ideology in the West African country. In addition to the threat of el-Zikzaki’s Shi’a movement, the security situation in Nigeria is torn apart by Boko Haram, a Sunni militant group, which are attacking the Nigerian army and the civilians. The majority of Nigeria’s Muslim population, 193 million people, are Sunni.

El-Zikzaki was arrested in December 2015 for planning the attack on the motorcade of the chief-of-staff of the Nigerian army. The Nigerian army raided his seminary in Zaria, seriously injured him, and killed hundreds of his followers. Since then, he has remained under state detention pending his release, which was ordered in late 2016.

El-Zikzaki was born in May 5, 1953 in Kaduna state, north-central Nigeria. He is viewed as an outspoken and foremost Shi’a Muslim cleric in  Nigeria.  He founded his IMN in the late 1970s, when he was a student at Ahmadu Bello University. He began propagating Shi’a ideology around 1979, the year in which the Islamic revolution in Iran overthrew the Shah regime and established an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini. Before converting to Shi’a, el-Zikzaki was a Sunni loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood designated terrorist group in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Russia. He was also active member of the MB’s Muslim Student Society.

El-Zikzaki has been detained several times due to accusations of civil disobedience or recalcitrance under military regimes in Nigeria during the 1980s and 1990s, and is still viewed with suspicion or as a threat by Nigerian authorities.

Reliable reports are confirming that el-Zikzaki was first approached by the Iranian embassy in Nigeria to discuss his potentials to act as Hassan Nassrulah, leader of the Shi’a Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. El-Zikzaki was groomed for his new role in Shi’a seminaries in Iran. Returning to Nigeria, the Shi’a cleric initiated his movement to broadcast Shi’a ideology in Nigeria before exporting it to neighobouring countries in West Africa.