Thread by @JeffOkoroafor

#Shiites vs Nigerian army.

Already 17 people have died, with over 44 people seriously injured. I think something is very wrong with this picture.

The way I see it, the Shiite members and the military are both wrong.

THREAD.

The spokesperson of d IMN earlier today stated that they will continue with their protest irrespective of d killings.

The army have also refused to speak further on the issue but opined that they'd continue to provider order.

My question is where is the @PoliceNG in all this?

Crowd control is and should continue to be @PoliceNG affair and not the @HQNigerianArmy as we have seen in most recent times.
#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

Democracy is anchored in values, and this has to do with human rights etc.

Civil protests shouldn't be met with violent actions as we've seen perpetrated by the army under @MBuhari

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

Civil protests are well organised - you create and make way for other road users; you don't engage in violence or violent confrontation with law enforcement etc.

Civil protests, whether the protesters are 1000 or 1 million, must never be prevented.

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

The viral video that showed #Shiites members throwing stones at the military didn't tell good of them. Likewise the military that ended up shooting and killing them. Human lives must matter to our leaders.
#RedefineNigeria

Now having said all of the above, It must be made very clear that in civilised societies security forces ought to operate and relate with civilians in a non-violent manner no matter how agitated they become.

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

But who would blame @HQNigerianArmy considering that we live in Nigeria where the @MBuhari and all his security Chiefs take turn justifying and explaining away the routine massacre of hundreds of citizens by Fulani herdsmen?

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

Living in such a country has a way of making one begin to see state violence as the norm and human life as nothing.

This is why a soldier will catch up to a running protester and shoot him point blank, close range. A shoot to kill.

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

A proper investigation and analysis of the 2015 killing of over 400 #Shiites by the military, will show that their recent claim is as weightless as their claim that they were at Nnamdi Kanu’s compound last year, not to attack him but to do “SHOW OF FORCE”.
#RedefineNigeria

I see the @HQNigerianArmy excuses as illiterate excuses. You don’t do Show Of Force in a locality populated by your own unarmed citizens. You do “Show Of Force” to codedly warn enemy countries to respect themselves & you do this by displaying your military might. #RedefineNigeria

Won't it be in order to say we have morons heading the army if they can load very sensitive weapons and commence conveying them from one point to another without getting intelligence on the traffic situation of the route they intend to ply?
#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

If the army was aware of the blockades and couldn't get the @PoliceNG to disperse them before they arrive, then the murders are all premeditated.

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

And if we say the @PoliceNG cannot disperse unarmed, stone/stick-wielding group, then we are simply saying we don’t have a police force.

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

The business of the army is the protection of the territorial integrity of the country. They have no business outside their barracks and in combat ready mode. Unless they're going for an operation & which does not include dispersing of a riotous group.

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites

Soldiers are permitted to engage civilians only when @PoliceNG & other law enforcement such as Civil Defence have conclusively failed to contain the situation & it must be in cases where the riotous assembly is populated by people who are ARMED with gun, not stick or stone.

The militarization of the civic spaces is itself a moral crime against the citizens and this is what @MBuhari the @NGRPresident has failed to understand.

#RedefineNigeria #Shiites