Soldiers/Shiite clash: Iran warns Nigeria over Zakzaky

Iran yesterday issued a strong warning to Nigeria over the continued detention of Shiite leader,  Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
Reports monitored from BBC quoted Iran’s foreign ministry’s spokesman, Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari, as saying that his country would “adopt wise action” to secure the release of Zakzaky having “exhausted all diplomatic means to solicit his release.
“We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue, hopefully, the government… would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation,” Jaberi-Ansari said.
El-Zakzaky was arrested by the army in December 2015 after members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) reportedly barricaded the expressway leading to Zaria; which allegedly stopped the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Gen Tukur Buratai.
The army alleged that the lawless act was an assassination attempt on the life of Buratai, although the group denied the claim. Zakzaky formed the group in the 1980s, which has been operating within the boundaries of northern Zaria for some time now. In 2014, the IMNwas involved in a clash with soldiers and his three sons were among those killed by security operatives.
This is not the first time the  Iranian government would show interest in matters concerning Shi’ites in Nigeria as President Muhammadu Buhari, on December 15, 2015, received a phone call from his Iranian counterpart over alleged killings of Shiites in Kaduna.