SERG said it had observed the dangerous activities of the Islamic Movement (IMN), whose terrorism appears to have the blessing of the Federal Government as not much has been done to deal with it the same dispatch with which the IPoB problem was addressed.
The group said the Independent People of Biafra, IPOB, did not commit half of atrocities that IMN has committed and continue to commit but no action has been taken against them.
SERG wondered why the IMN continues to operate freely across the country while IPOB was immediately curtailed and its activities outlawed.
It said despite overwhelming evidence and testimonies the IMN has remained a lawless group that continues to torment the citizens while regularly confronting security agencies in the country.
Charles Mbani, National President, at a press conference said IMN has repeatedly shut down the Business District in Abuja with its violent protests while the authorities watch with closed lips.
Mbani said, “Each time these protests shut down businesses, the majority of them are Igbo businesses that are now being driven to the brink as they are unable to carry out their legitimate activities because of an illegal group.
“The violent nature of the IMN protests is a threat to the life and safety of all Nigerians because it is a matter of time before more people are either killed or maimed as the group’s members continue to become more daring.
“We are aware, from what we have been picking up from news reports that the IMN has a well-stocked armory made up of weapons supplied by the Islamic Republic of Iran. What we are unsure of is whether the military and security agencies in Nigeria are scared of confronting IMN because of the extent of the arsenal at the group’s disposal.
“It is obvious that more damage is being done to the integrity of Nigeria as a nation for every single day that these group continues to operate as a parallel state and promote hate speech targeted at citizens that do not subscribe to the ideology of their sect. It equally continues to recruit, give military training to, and radicalize youths that it then deploy against the Nigerian state.
“SERG hereby calls on the Federal Government to file a suit for the judiciary to designate IMN as a terrorist organization as provided in the nation’s anti-terrorism laws. The Attorney General should be direct to immediately institute this suit.
“Where the federal government fails to initiate the process of designating IMN as a terrorist organization, we demand that Nigeria consequently allows IPoB and Boko Haram to operate freely without let. The government must then also take steps to delist these groups as terror organizations.
“Our belief is that allowing IPoB and Boko Haram to operate freely like IMN will prove to the world that there are no ethnic or sentimental considerations behind the Federal Government’s decision not to designate IMN as a terror group.
“The equality of existence guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) must be upheld as sacrosanct such that not one group of persons are treated as being above the rest of us simply because they belong to IMN.”
