The Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to obey the rule of law and release its leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The group was responding to the president’s New Year message where Buhari referred to the shiite sect as “brothers and sisters”, urging them to  “accept the laws of the country”.

President of the media forum of IMN, Ibrahim Musa, in a statement on Sunday, said that on the contrary, it is the federal government, led by President Buhari, that must obey court orders and release El-zakzaky.

“We call on the President to stop beating around the bush. He must release Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky immediately as ruled by the Court of the land,” Musa said.

The Shiite spokesman added that the President should also “order for the immediate release of all those who are still being held in various places of detention across the country since the brutal attack on us.”

“We expect him to take bold steps against the officers that massively killed citizens in Zaria, Kaduna, Kano, Funtua and Sokoto since the onset of the attacks on us in December of 2015.

“We expect actions to address the matter of victims secretly buried in mass graves.”

The group also demanded “for payment of compensation for lives and property destroyed in the ill-conceived attacks”, as well as “words of condolences in relation to those extra-judicially killed since the pogrom started.”

Musa recalled that the IMN had “challenged all acts of brutality and extra-judicial killing of our members in our law courts peacefully” and had refused to take the laws into their own hands “even in the face of extreme persecution and provocation.”

“On the contrary, Mr President, you are yet to obey the court order to release our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, whom you have held in illegal detention, without charges, for more than a year now despite a court order for his release,” he said.

According to Musa, the group’s lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, had written through the Attorney General, to remind President Buhari of the court order yet nothing has happened.

He also reminded the president that members of the Shiite are “embedded into all aspects of the society, contributing positively in various ways to its success.”

“We have built bridges across both intra and inter-faith divides. We have been bridging gaps across tribal and regional divides.

“We have been exposing the evil machination of authorities against its very citizens.

“Is that not the very reason the authorities seek to curtail what they perceive as our growing influence and impact on the society?” he asked.

The shiite spokesman advised Buhari to stop relying on “cooked up reports, which you call “intelligence” based on private prejudices that do not reflect reality to formally crystallize into official resentment and hate for a group and its leadership.”

Recall that El-zakzaky had remained in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, since December 2015, following a deadly clash between members of the IMN and Nigerian soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State.

The clash led to the death of more than 300 shiite muslims while one soldier also died.