Commotion As Shi’ites Break Into NASS Complex, Forced Reps Into Adjournment

Pandemonium broke out Wednesday afternoon as members of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) popularly known as Shi’ites broke into the premises of the National Assembly (NASS), forcing federal lawmakers to adjourn plenary.

BIGPEN ONLINE reports that they reportedly stormed the complex to protest the continuous detention of their spiritual leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky who has been in detention since 2015 after  the Department of State Security (DSS) charged him for “culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, and disruption of public peace”.

According to reports, the IMN’s members who were chanting “Allah Akbar” and anti-government songs overpowered police on duty at the complex due to their large number and forced themselves through the first gate.

Eyewitness says as they advanced toward the second gate of the complex which lead to the chambers, their leaders stopped them and sued for calm.

However, despite the provocation, the security agencies on ground were peaceful and calm and also pleaded with the protesters not to go into the chamber.

Sensing danger,  reports say Yusuf Lasun, deputy speaker of the house of representatives, who was presiding over plenary, announced that he had just been briefed of the development, saying he chose to adjourn plenary out of caution.

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