October 14, 2016
The Kaduna state government in northern Nigeria has declared a small Shiite sect to be illegal. The state government said anyone convicted of membership in the Islamic Movement of Nigeria could be imprisoned for up to seven years. The group, founded in the 1980s by a cleric trained in Iran, is very small. The overwhelming majority of Nigeria’s Muslims are Sunnis. The outlawed group fought a pitched battle with Army troops last December in which the Army killed 348 of its members.