Stop Using Courts to Justify El-Zakzaky’s Detention, Shiites Reply El-Rufai
POLITICS DIGEST – Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiites, have asked President Muhammadu Buhari and Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to bear the responsibility for the continuous detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and not to blame the courts of law.
The group at the weekend gave the advice in response to the comments credited to El-Rufai on why El-Zakzaky and his wife were still being kept in detention.
Besides, the Shiites pointed out that “with increasing pressure on the Buhari regime from home and abroad occasioned by the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague to investigate the crimes against humanity committed by this regime during the Zaria massacre of 2015, there have been increased efforts at belittling the matter and trivialising the issues.”
President of the Media Forum of IMN, Malam Ibrahim Musa, in a statement, said the recent comments by the governor was meant to trivialise the alleged massacre of hundreds of Shiites, which he said, is already being investigated by the ICC.
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Musa said: “The Sheikh and his supporters were the victims of state terror and crimes and not the perpetrators. The Department of State Services (DSS) illegally detained them without charges until May 2018 when the pressure on the government to release them became so intense and unbearable.”
It was at that point that the government thought of charging them for inciting his followers to commit alleged offences.
“Prior to that, the government had struggled to give any sensible explanation for their continued detention. They had even clearly stated that the Sheikh was being kept in protective custody for his own safety and not because he had committed any crime. They also declared that the wife was not in detention but “merely keeping her husband company” and that she was free to walk out anytime she so wishes. So, what crimes is El-Rufai referring to?”
“The Kaduna High Court has cleared all of them of these framed-up charges and subsequently discharged and acquitted them all. So again, what crimes is El-Rufai referring to?”
“Governor El-Rufai’s claim that only court can free Sheikh Zakzaky pales in the face of the obvious.
“We would like to let El-Rufai and his master know that the day of reckoning is very near indeed. Justice will be served and no amount of blackmail and misuse of state power could avert this whirlwind of justice catching up with them all. On our part, we will intensify our peaceful campaigns until justice is done to the victims of ZariaIslde of December 2015 and Sheikh Zakzaky and all those still being held regain their freedom.”
, otherwise known as Shiites, have asked President Muhammadu Buhari and Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to bear the responsibility){kind=link}