TheCable

A group known as The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre (SHAC) has condemned the use of children during protests by members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

The group made this known at a press conference on Friday.

In a statement signed by Joyce Ogwu, executive director, the centre raised the alarm, calling for an end to such.

While acknowledging that the sect members have the right to advocate the release of Ibraheem El-Zarzaky, their leader, SHAC called on IMN to follow due process.

Read full statement below:

I welcome you all to the all-important press conference put together by the Save Humanity Advocacy Centre to condemn in its totality the flagrant abuse of the rights of children by the obnoxious Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

The IMN as an organization has constituted itself into a parallel government in Nigeria through its violent campaigns and protest across the country for a cause that is before a competent court of law.

While it is understandable that they have a right to advocate for the release of their leader, Sheik Ibraheem El-Zarzaky from detention, they must also realize that there is an on-going court process that must be exhausted before such request could be granted so long he is not found guilty of the charges levelled against him.

The worrisome part of the activities of the IMN is the indiscriminate use of children as a shield in its violent protests across the country.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre frowns at such outright abuse of children by the leadership of the IMN and as a result of this, insists that such violations should be discontinued henceforth.

The IMN must also stop with immediate effect the continued enslavement of children in their various terrorist cells in the country. They must realize that keeping children in camps against their will and wish is a gross violation of their inalienable rights.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre wishes to use this medium to call of the relevant authorities to put an end to the barbaric practice by the IMN of using children as their foot soldiers in their violent campaigns.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre wishes to state that the IMN should be compelled to discontinue the outright servitude of children in their possession, mostly whom they have severed from their parents and families through unorthodox means.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria must be circumspect in the way and manner they put children in harm’s way in a bid to demand the release of their spiritual leader.

The leaders of the IMN must come to the realization that the activities of the IMN stand banned and also outlawed as a terrorist group by a competent court of jurisdiction in Nigeria until otherwise declared by a competent court of jurisdiction.

This much they are challenging in court, and it is expected that status-quo be maintained until the final determination of the suit by the court.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre wishes to advise the leadership of the IMN to desist from further heating the polity and subjecting hundreds of children to physical and psychological torture, which is unacceptable in any democratic society in the world over.

The leadership of the IMN must realize that they cannot take the laws into their hands by engaging in violent street protests across the country. They must come to the understanding that Nigeria is indeed not their fiefdom where they want everyone to either identify with their ideology or sink.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre believes that lawlessness, as exhibited by the members of the IMN, is an indication that should the court grant bail to its spiritual leader; Nigeria might go up in flames because of their evil and extremely violent tendencies.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre wishes to state in unequivocal terms that the time for IMN to stop its use of children in its violent campaign against the constituted authorities in Nigeria is now.

They must also respect court orders and understand that Nigeria is not a banana republic.”