The clash occurred at Kwanar Dawaki, on
the outskirts of Kano, as the Shiites embarked on their annual Arba’een
walk fromFrom Yusha’u A. Ibrahim (Kano) & Andrew Agbese (Kaduna)

Many people are feared dead following a clash between the police and
members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Nigeria’s biggest Shia
organisation, in Kano yesterday, Daily Trust reports.
But while the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Rabi’u Yusuf said a
sergeant and eight Shiites were killed in the violence, the IMN said the
number of casualties was more than the figure given the police.
The clash occurred at Kwanar Dawaki, on the outskirts of Kano, as the
Shiites embarked on their annual Arba’een walk from Kano to Zaria in
Kaduna State.
Addressing a press conference, the Kano police commissioner said many were injured in the clash, including four policemen.
He said scores had been arrested and would be charged to court as soon as police concluded investigation.
“Thousands of Shiite members converged on Kwanar Dawaki in Dawaki local
government area of the state and obstructed motorists. They attacked
innocent citizens, damaged public and personal properties, thereby
causing mayhem that could lead to general disturbances of public peace
in the state.
“We mobilized a combined team of Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism
Unit and Special Anti-Robbery Squad to the scene to restore law and
order. In the process, Shiite members who were armed with bow and
arrows, cutlasses, catapult with metal bolts and other dangerous local
weapons attacked the police, killing one policeman and critically
injured others.
“They also snatched an AK47 rifle from a policeman which they used in
attacking the policeman. The AK47 rifle was later recovered after our
men trailed those who snatched it,” he added.
But when contacted, leader of the IMN in Kano, Malam Sanusi Abdulkadir
Koki, said the group was still compiling the list of those killed in the
clash, adding that the casualties were more than eight.
“We have the list of our people that participated in the procession and
we have sent our lawyers to the police to ascertain the casualties from
our own angle. We were only able to recover four corpses after the
clash. At present, dozens of our men and women were missing. So it is
only after the team is back that we can ascertain the actual number of
people killed in the encounter,” he said in a phone interview.
Koki added that “our people did not carry any weapon. But I cannot rule
out possessing catapult because, the definition of law, it is not a
weapon.”
He also denied the allegation that members of the group had blocked one
lane of the ever busy Kano-Kaduna highway, noting that “It is police
that blocked the road in their quest to attack our people. They used
live ammunition and killed our people.”
Koki said the annual Arba’een trekking was not a new thing in Kano,
adding that the procession has been conducted in the state for the last
five years without any hitch.
“I want to state categorically here that what the police are doing
against our people is not good and will not augur well for the country.
No matter how patient we are, we would not just fold our hands watching
police killing our people,” he said.
When our reporter visited Kwanar Dawaki and Gadar Tamburawa, some 20
kilometres from Kano city, hundreds of teargas canisters and pairs of
shoes dotted the scene where the encounter took place.
A resident, Aminu Mustapha, told our reporter that hundreds of Shiites, mostly women and children, took cover in Tamburawa town.

“Some of the female members, after they were dispersed the police,
went into Tamburawa town where they begged for dresses from women,
changed their symbolic black dress and went back to Kano.
“Many of the Shiites were shot the police during the clash; I don’t
know whether they are dead or not, but police evacuated their bodies
from the scene,” he said. Daily Trust gathered that shortly after the
deadly clash, the Shiites later re-grouped and continued their
procession to Zaria.
While at the state police headquarters, our reporter observed some
injured members of the IMN, including teenage girls who were brought in
five Hilux patrol vehicles.
It would be recalled that in December last year, the Shiites, while
conducting similar procession, were attacked a suicide bomber  who
killed scores.
A statement President of the IMN Media Forum, Ibrahim Musa, called on
the police authorities to hand over the dead to the group, adding that
they must not be buried in a mass grave as it was done in Kaduna.
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has vowed to go ahead with its
annual Arbaeen symbolic trek this year, saying it is a religious duty
incumbent upon its members.
The movement, at a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, said it is
however aware of plots to scuttle the trek security forces and other
sects.
Speaking on behalf of the movement, Nasir Mansur, said the trek is not
new in Nigeria and is not a creation of the IMN as it has been done
throughout history and worldwide in various ways.

Source: Daily trust