Security sources have informed NewsNGR that members of the shite sect have infiltrated the ranks of #EndBadGovernance protesters in some northern cities of Nigeria.
Members of the sect, who operate under the banner of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, are said to have joined the protesters from Day-one and are behind the waving of Russian flags during the protest marches in Kano, Abuja and Jos.
The Shiite is a minority Islamic sect in Nigeria based largely in the 19 states of the north, but predominantly in Kano, Sokoto, and Kaduna. They are believed to receive support from countries with majority Shia Muslim populations such as Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain.
In Kano, hundreds of underaged youths took to the streets of Kano last Thursday , calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene in Nigeria. Some of them called for a military coup.
On Saturday, they also defied the 24-hour curfew imposed by the state government and marched through the city with some of the protesters displaying placards with inscriptions calling for Russian military takeover.
Similar scenes were noticed in Abuja, the nation’s capital city and Jos, the capital of Plateau State during the ongoing protests.
The Cable quoted one of the protesters waving Russian flags as saying, “We are raising the Russian flag because we believe Tinubu is playing his imperial masters’ scripts—the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the United States of America.”
It is unclear what the motives of the shite sect in Nigeria is, but members of the sect in the neighbouring country of Niger supported the military junta who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum on 26 July 2023 following a coup.
Members of the sect, just like other sects, are said to be in major political parties in the country and are believed to be the ones sponsoring the youths calling for Russian takeover or chanting “soldier muke so (we want soldiers).”
A source in the Government House in Jos told NewsNGR that the state government was aware that some sponsored group had infiltrated protesters.
“Before Gov. Caleb Mutfwang imposed a 24-hour curfew on Jos-Bukuru metropolis on Sunday, he warned community leaders that some sponsored groups had hijacked the protest,” revealed the source.
The Kano State Commissioner of Police, Salman Garba, also appeared to confirm the political dimension of the protest when he told Journalists that some of the youths who participated in the protest were hiding under a programme organised by an unnamed politician in the state.
Kano based elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, while reacting to the calls for military takeover by some of the protesters, told NewsNGR that some of them were sponsored by “people who don’t like this country.”
Describing them as anarchists, Yakasai said “There are people who don’t like this country and are prepared to take advantage of anybody willing to serve as their agent to destroy the country or drag the country into a mess only to please themselves. These are anarchists. Is there anywhere in the world where anarchists made their country better?”