{"id":27360,"date":"2025-10-24T13:31:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/?p=27360"},"modified":"2025-10-24T13:32:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:32:01","slug":"former-sokoto-governor-wamakko-confesses-to-killing-shiites-destroying-islamic-centres-after-18-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/?p=27360","title":{"rendered":"Former Sokoto Governor Wamakko Confesses to Killing Shiites, Destroying Islamic Centres After 18 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eighteen years after a violent crackdown, former Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko has confessed to ordering the killing of Shiite followers and the destruction of their religious centres and homes during his tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a video clip, Wamakko is heard admitting he directed a military operation against members of the Islamic Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1GYmgRiKoV<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this state, we fought fiercely against the Shi\u2019a ideology. During the time of Malam Danmaishiyya and Malam Bello Kofa, they helped us greatly. With God\u2019s help, we eliminated the Shi\u2019a. Even His Eminence, the Sultan, played a major role in the killing,\u201d Wamakko said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued, providing specific details of the operation: \u201cI called a young Major named Nasiru, also called Muhammad, from Kontagora. I told him to come and give advice; he did. That very night, everything was carried out \u2014 we killed them and demolished their homes and schools, turned their centre into a waterworks and a hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wamakko together with the two Sunni Clerics he claimed to have helped him eliminate Shiites in Sokoto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The confession relates to the July 2007 Sokoto massacre, which occurred after the assassination of Sunni cleric Umar Danmaishiyya. The crackdown resulted in six Shiite followers killed and over 63 homes and shops destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reacting to the confession, Islamic movement activist Bilal Nasiru Umar described the statement as a \u201cclear admission of guilt.\u201d He said, \u201cAs Wamakko himself confessed, the blood of those innocent servants of God lies on his hands,\u201d and called for justice for the victims and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Four of the six activists of the Islamic Movement reportedly killed during the administration of former Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko in Sokoto, pictured alongside a copy of the 2014 Sokoto High Court verdict obtained by the Daily Struggle newspaper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The admission has sparked renewed calls for investigations into the 2007 massacre, which human rights groups documented as one of the earliest state-backed assaults on Nigeria’s Shiite community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eighteen years after a violent crackdown, former Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko has confessed to ordering the killing of Shiite followers and the destruction of their religious centres and homes during his tenure. In a video clip, Wamakko is heard admitting he directed a military operation against members of the Islamic Movement. https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1GYmgRiKoV \u201cIn this state, we fought fiercely against the Shi\u2019a ideology. During the time of Malam Danmaishiyya and Malam Bello Kofa, they helped us greatly. With God\u2019s help, we eliminated the Shi\u2019a. Even His Eminence, the Sultan, played a major role in the killing,\u201d Wamakko said. He continued, providing specific details of the operation: \u201cI called a young Major named Nasiru, also called Muhammad, from Kontagora. I told him to come and give advice; he did. That very night, everything was carried out \u2014 we killed them and demolished their homes and schools, turned their centre into a waterworks and a hospital.\u201d The confession relates to the July 2007 Sokoto massacre, which occurred after the assassination of Sunni cleric Umar Danmaishiyya. The crackdown resulted in six Shiite followers killed and over 63 homes and shops destroyed. Reacting to the confession, Islamic movement activist Bilal Nasiru Umar described the statement as a \u201cclear admission of guilt.\u201d He said, \u201cAs Wamakko himself confessed, the blood of those innocent servants of God lies on his hands,\u201d and called for justice for the victims and their families. The admission has sparked renewed calls for investigations into the 2007 massacre, which human rights groups documented as one of the earliest state-backed assaults on Nigeria’s Shiite community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27364,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27360\/revisions\/27364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}