Army/Shittes clash: Buhari still studying report, to respond in due course- Presidency

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured international and local human rights groups that his administration would respond appropriately to the report of the judicial inquiry into the clashes between soldiers and members of the Shiite movement in Nigeria, led by Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

A statement by Presidential Media Aide, Garba Shehu said the “President is studying the details of the report before announcing appropriate response in due course.

“The President’s commitment to human rights remains unchanged because it is a cardinal component of the democratic order”.

Shehu said the Buhari led administration believes in due process and the rule of law; “therefore any response to the report would follow this principle.

“The Federal Government will continue to act in the larger interest of the public to prevent such violent incidents”.

Recall that after the clashes which occurred in December last year, the President had told the nation during the Presidential Media Chat that he was awaiting the outcome of the report of inquiry into the incident before making appropriate response.

The General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army’s 1st Division, Adeniyi Oyebade, a major general, authorized last December’s military operation that massacred at least 347 members of the Shi’a Muslim group in Zaria, and should be prosecuted, a judicial commission of inquiry into the killings, has said in its final report.

The commission of inquiry, set up by the Kaduna State government, had indicted the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army’s 1st Division, Adeniyi Oyebade, a major general, alongside other senior army officers for authorizing last December’s military operation that massacred at least 347 members of the Shi’a Muslim group in Zaria.

The killings had drawn worldwide condemnations, and some reports had alleged that hundreds of people were killed by the government troops and secretly buried in a mass grave in Zaria, Kaduna State. The Shi’a Islamic movement had claimed it lost more than a thousand members in the attack .