In late 2018, the brigade was accused of carrying out a massacre in the capital of Abuja against Shia Muslims who were members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. The protesters of the IMN who were at the scene were protesting the imprisonment of Ibrahim Zakzaky, a Shia cleric who is the leader of the IMN and has stayed in detention since December 2016. At least 45 IMN protesters were killed in the massacre.
