Shi’ites disown El-Zakzaky’s group, urge Iran, Saudi to ignore IMN
A factional Shi’ite’s organization in Nigeria, Al-Thaqalayn Cultural Foundation, on Tuesday said the controversial Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky-led Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) is a fake movement. The group, however, implored the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to desist from using the IMN crises to make Nigeria another testing ground for their struggle for regional supremacy. It debunked suggestions that IMN is synonymous to Shi’ism, adding, that “neither of the two is interchangeable”. Secretary General of the factional Shi’ite’s group, Sheikh Hamza Muhammad Lawal, gave the clarification at a news conference in Kaduna on Tuesday. He explained that he was once a member of IMN between 1981 and 2000, after he returned from Qum, Islamic Republic of Iran, where he studied Theology. According to him, “IMN started in the late 1970s as a socio-cultural and politico-religious revivalist movement, drawing its inspiration and taking its cue from essentiall