February 21st, 2019
Written by - Mikala Smith '22
On October 29th, a religious sect called the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, which consists mainly of Shiite Muslims who do not follow the Nigerian Constitution because they feel it discriminates against them, gathered in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, for an annual religious procession called the Arbaeen pilgrimage, a symbolic ceremony that’s observed by Shia muslims around the world. They also gathered to protest against the government due to the arrest of Ibrahim Zakzaky, the leader of their movement, who was detained in 2015. The pilgrimage was peaceful until the group reached a military checkpoint in the outskirts of Abuja. Between forty five to fifty supporters were killed by the Nigerian military.
Since 2015, these massacres have been carried out by soldiers without any repercussions for their actions, even though Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to stop soldiers from harming the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. Buhari has struggled to address the many problems that pertain to the military. The military has also abused separatists in the Southeast of Nigeria and has fought against Boko Haram, a militant Islamic group that wants to overthrow the government, in the Northeast.
The Nigerian army has been using President Trump's words to defend their violence. For example this statement that President Trump made on November 1st warning soldiers at the Mexican border to shoot Central Americans if they threw stones at them while crossing the border illegally: “We're not going to put up with that. If they want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. I told them, consider it a rifle.’’
This quote from President Trump has been used by the Nigerian Army to defend the killing of the Shia protesters. They will most likely keep quoting the American President's words whenever another large mass killing happens.
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