Shooting at Shiite protesters was the wrong call from soldiers and police officers

Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) or Shiite, have taken to the streets of Abuja to pelt stones at soldiers and soldiers have responded with brute, maximum force by gunning down and killing some Shiite members.

As you would expect, the death toll from the clashes differ depending on who is telling the story. Spokesperson for the IMN, Ibrahim Musa, says at least 27 of the sect’s members by soldiers since Saturday, October 27.

The army denies that it has killed that many people. Only six Shiite members were killed by soldiers and that was in self-defense, as soldiers tried to “extricate themselves” from ambushes mounted by the Shiites, says army headquarters.

It is typical of Nigeria to use the dead for propaganda.

However you look at it, lives were lost and the loss of one life is just as horrendous and detestable as the loss of many lives. Casualties in this renewed clash could have been avoided altogether with better tact and with better understanding of the rules of engagement by armed combatants.

What happened on Day One of the latest round of clashes between Shiites and soldiers is clear enough from the videos that have been making the rounds on the internet: Shiite members pelted stones at a motorcade of soldiers who were travelling with ammunition. Startled soldiers first ducked raining stones before cocking their guns and firing live bullets at young Shiite protesters. It was an unprovoked attack from the Shiites but it was an even sillier reaction from the angry soldiers.

Surely, soldiers undergo trainings for moments like this? Surely, soldiers or security personnel shouldn’t be firing live bullets at civilians on the streets?

At the core of the frequent clashes between Shiites on one hand and police officers on the other, is the continued detention of Shiite spiritual leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, who was arrested following a crackdown on Shiites in December of 2015.

It took two years, punctuated by more violent protests from Shiite devotees and disciples, for Zakzaky to be arraigned in a court of competent jurisdiction and read his rights.

The federal government didn’t need to keep Zakzaky in military confinement for that long before arraigning him. The danger in the forceful crackdown of religious protesters like we have seen all week is that Nigeria may just be repeating the mistake of 2009 when soldiers killed Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, sent his 800 followers underground, who subsequently returned with an even more brutal and blood thirsty leader in Abubakar Shekau. It has been argued that killing Yusuf further radicalized Boko Haram as we know it and turned the insurgents into a group that now poses the biggest threat to our nation's co-existence since the civil war.

There are about 3 million Shiites in Nigeria. Shooting at some of them and having them killed will only exacerbate the conflict and fuel more animosity towards the state from other extremist religious groups. What Nigeria should be doing is deploying tact, diplomacy and caution where necessary. Opening fire and arresting Shiite members won’t solve the problem of curbing the often violent processions of the Shiites.

Law enforcement shouldn’t always resort to live ammunition to fix a problem. It’s time to begin retraining our security personnel to help them make better decisions and deploy less combative approaches when dealing with members of the public. We also need to hand law enforcement the tools they will require to combat civil disturbances without hurting anyone.

Nigeria is still grappling with a reputation for human rights violations. Shooting at religious protesters isn't going to help us flip that narrative.