Police Begin Hunt For Shiite Members After National Assembly Shooting, Arrest Scores

The police have arrested scores of members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria for injuring a policeman and an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps at the National Assembly, Abuja, on Tuesday, Punch Metro reports.

The force has also launched a manhunt for Shi’ite members across the city centre.

The sect members had stormed the NASS complex to protest the continued incarceration of their leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky who had been in custody since December 2015.

Punch Metro observed a police team at Samuel Ademulegun Avenue, near the National Mosque, searching commercial buses in order to fish out the sect members.

The leader of the operation, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, whose name could not be ascertained, was seen with his team harassing commuters and other passers-by.

The policemen, who were wielding sticks and rods, also prevented our correspondent from talking to the suspects in their patrol van.

“Get out of here, I don’t want to see you,” the ACP shouted at Punch Metro correspondent.

When asked about the number of arrests, the Federal Capital Territory police spokesman, Anjuguri Manzah, said he was preparing a statement.