Some female members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) were reportedly beaten up by soldiers along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway in the nation’s capital on Tuesday, September 28.
According to a report issued by the Daily Trust, soldiers flagged a vehicle conveying the IMN members before assaulting them.
The soldiers searched the vehicles in a bid to identify IMN members.
“Come out now! You are one of them!” a well-built armed soldier barked at a man in one of the buses.
A lady, who preferred anonymity, said she and two other members of her family were on their way to Jabi Motor Park when the passengers on the bus conveying them were forced out of the bus.
“Before my mother get on the bus again, the driver was forced to move on. We could not help but cry hard as we don’t know what will happen to her.”
Despite the ban on IMN procession in Abuja; members of the sect have continued to march on the streets of the nation’s capital at intervals.
On July 28, 2021, a Kaduna High Court discharged and acquitted Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, IMN Leader; who spent seven years in detention.
He was arrested after some of his followers clashed with soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State, in 2015.
The Kaduna State government had charged him with culpable homicide.
Meanwhile, a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has advised members of the Joint Conference Committee of the National Assembly; to ensure the speedy enactment of the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill in the national interest.
Saraki gave the advice in a statement by the head of his Media Office, Yusuph Olaniyonu, titled, ‘Electoral Act: Saraki Urges NASS Panel to Act in National Interest,’ on Monday, September 27.
1st News had reported that the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, last week named a seven-member conference committee to work on the Bill.
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Saraki stated that the harmonisation of the versions of the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill; and its eventual passage should be concluded on time so as to enable the law to be assented to; before the political process leading to the 2023 general elections takes off in full gear.
