Release El-Zakzaky And Our Agitation Will Stop, Shi’ites Tell FG

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as Shitte said yesterday that all it requires from the federal government to stop its current agitation is the release of the incarcerated leader of the sect, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zinat.

The group was reacting to its proscription on Friday by government through a court order.

Human rights lawyers, Mr. Femi Falana and Chief Mike Ozekhome both Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) however slammed the federal government for its move against the sect.

The lawyers dismissed the government action as illegal and immoral.

But the Secretary of the influential Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Anthony Sani, said last night that a court of competent jurisdiction could not have declared the IMN a terrorist group without concrete evidence.

In outlawing the IMN, Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Federal High Court, Abuja also designated the activities of the Shiite in any part of Nigeria “as acts of terrorism and illegality.”

Besides, the court restrained “any person or group of persons” from participating in any form of activities involving or concerning the IMN “under any name or platform” in Nigeria.

Reviewing the development yesterday, spokesman for the IMN Ibrahim Musa said the incarcerated couple should be released for them to take care of their damaged health.

He pleaded for the support of the international community for the group.

“We hope the international community will put more pressure on the government. Our major demand is for them to release our leader to go and look after his health,” he told Channels TV

“If they do this; all our agitations, especially on the streets of Abuja will meltdown.”

He also said that members of the group and their lawyers are currently studying the court order with a view to reacting appropriately.

But he was also quick to say it was absurd for the Federal Government to proscribe the group.

He said: “As regards the court orders proscribing the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, for now, the movement hasn’t reached a decision.

“The leading members and lawyers are studying the court order and very soon, they will issue a way out for the movement.

“But we believe we are the victims of all that has been happening so it is very unfortunate that a group that has not retaliated, all the killings it has suffered under the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, it will now be accused of being a terrorist group.”

He claimed that the group and its members, despite the attack on them, have not killed anybody.

“Have you ever seen a terrorist group that one-third of its members have been killed and they haven’t killed anybody?

“So it is absurd we believe, for the Federal Government to take this step of proscribing the IMN.”

Members of IMN have been holding road protests in Abuja , Lagos and other parts of the country over the last few weeks to press for the release of El-Zakyzaky and his wife, Zinat.

They said it was wrong of government to keep holding on to them after the courts had ordered their release.

The couple have been in detention since 2015 following a bloody clash in Zaria, Kaduna State, between the Shittes and the entourage of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Tukur Buratai.

The couple is also facing trial for culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, and disruption of the public peace, among other charges filed against them by the Kaduna state government.

The immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Mr. Abubakar Malami, told Senators on Friday that the continued incarceration of El-Zakzaky is in the overall interest of national security.

Malami was in the Senate for screening in respect of a fresh ministerial appointment.

He said though he has responsibility, as Justice minister, to protect individual rights it is equally his responsibility to protect the corporate interest of the country.

He had been taken to task by the Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, to explain to Nigerians why the rights of those granted bail by the court were still being violated by keeping them in custody.

Malami did not mention any name but explained that those granted bail and yet to be freed, were being held in the overall interest of the country.

The Federal Government in September 2017 also obtained a court order proscribing IPOB and designating it as a terrorist group.

Judicial efforts by IPOB to reverse the order have not succeeded.