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The Islamic Moment of Nigeria, IMN, popularly known as Shiites group, has confirmed that its members were responsible for attacking President Muhammadu Buhari last Friday at the National Mosque, Abuja.

Some sections of the media had reported that Mr Buhari was confronted by some Shiite protesters, even though the presidency had dismissed the story as untrue.

However, claiming the attack, the group said they attacked the President because of his continued refusal to release their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky for over two years now.

In an interview with The Guardian, during a peaceful protest on Tuesday in Abuja, a member of the group, Abdullahi Muhammad Musa, said that they were forced to confront Mr Buhari at the National Mosque to press home their demands.

Mr Musa added that their peaceful protest was gaining momentum due to Federal Government’s injustice and the Nigerian Army’s high handedness against their leader.

The group noted that the Federal Government was still holding El-Zakzaky in captivity even as his health continues to deteriorate due to gunshot wounds.

“As we speak, El-Zakzaky is blind in one of his eyes and the other one is almost becoming blind. He has several bullet wounds in his stomach and he even suffered a mild stroke in early January this year before they allowed his personal doctor to attend to him.

We have been protesting for two years now, we have been teargased, and many have been killed by the police including Sheikh Umar Sokoto and we have held over 80 protests.

“This is why last Friday, we met the President at the mosque and told him you ‘are a criminal, a tyrant, and an oppressor.’ All Nigerians should come out and push out this person otherwise he will push us into a civil war,” he said.

A female member of the group who identified herself as Aisha, said it was wrong for the President to continue to detain El-Zakzaky for no reason, adding that even the courts have ordered that he should be set free, so why is he still in detention?