El-Zakzaky, Religion and the Nigerian State by Reuben Abati

SO much has been said about the December 12 confrontation between the Nigerian Army and members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria led by Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Shia in Nigeria. I guess the point has been well-made that there are faults on both sides.  There seems to be a consensus, however, that the followers of Ali, better known as Shiites or the Shia, seem to enjoy confrontations with the state and seem determined to disregard dominant authority – Islamic and secular.
By the same token, the Nigerian security establishment has since the 1980s showed an equal determination to put El Zakzaky in his place. But in no way does this justify the extra-judicial killing of members of the Islamic Movement, or the use of the word, "Prisoners of War" (POW) to describe its detained members. The Nigerian Government since the '80s has set up a series of panels of inquiry and produced tomes on the subject of forging peaceful relations between the state and religion, and yet religion remains a key threat to amalgamation and the sanctity of the Nigerian state.
What we are dealing with is something deeper — it is the outflow of a deep schism within the Islamic faith on the questions of authenticity and legitimacy, in terms of what constitutes rules, doctrines, interpretations and values. This old battle for doctrinal supremacy is what has been responsible for the divisions within the faith since the First Fitna. It is the drama being played out in the Middle East.  It is the story and politics of ISIS and ISIL. This is why it will be wrong to describe the Islamic Movement in Nigeria's constant conflict with the Nigerian state as a confrontation between Nigerian Muslims and the state, to the extent that ISIS or ISIL does not speak for all Muslims just as the ISMIN does not speak for all Nigerian Muslims.

Sudan 'apostasy' woman arrives in US

Mariam Ibrahim

Sudan 'apostasy' woman arrives in US

Mariam Ibrahim, who refused to recant her Christian faith in face of death sentence, now in New Hampshire with family.

A Sudanese woman who refused to recant her Christian faith in the face of a death sentence has arrived in the US, where she was welcomed first by the mayor of Philadelphia as a "world freedom fighter," and later by cheering supporters in New Hampshire.

Mariam Ibrahim flew from Rome, where she had met Pope Francis, to Philadelphia with her husband and two children, en route to Manchester, New Hampshire, where her husband has family and where they will make their new home.

Amosun, Fashola mourn Islamic leader, Abdul Lateef Adegbite

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, and his Lagos State counterpart, Babatunde Fashola, have expressed sadness over the death of the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Lateef Adegbite.

The Islamic leader and Baba Adinni of Egbaland died in a Lagos hospital of an undisclosed ailment aged 79.
His death reportedly threw Abeokuta and Egbaland into fresh mourning, coming on the heels of the demise of two prominent Egba sons, Chief Oluwole Adeosun and Chief Segun Taiwo.

U.S. ambassador killed after chaotic, hours-long siege

Gunfire, a burning building, "heavy, dark smoke" that separated Chris Stevens, the late U.S. ambassador to Libya, from a security officer: American officials painted a harrowing picture late Wednesday of the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that left the widely respected diplomat and three others dead. The officials, speaking to reporters on a conference call arranged by the State Department, shared what they readily acknowledged were incomplete details subject to change as a clearer picture emerges from the bloody raid.

The early details sketch out a chaotic situation in which apparently outgunned U.S. and Libyan security personnel fought for hours to retake the diplomatic compound in the eastern Libyan city from unknown gunmen and lost the ambassador. The account was provided to reporters on the condition that the officials giving it not be identified.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens Killed in Consulate Attack in Benghazi

The U.S.ambassador to Libya,Christopher Stevens, was killed when Libyan militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Stevens, 52, died on Tuesday as 20 gun-wielding attackers stormed the U.S. consulate, angry about an American-made movie that depicted Prophet Mohammad as a fraud and a womanizer. The attackers fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the consulate, Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif told a news conference in Benghazi.