The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (Shiites) has warned President
Muhammadu Buhari to stop claiming that the fate of its leader, Sheikh
Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, lies with the courts not the federal government.
A statement on Sunday signed by the President Media Forum of the
Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim Musa wondered how the presidency
would make such a claim, when since December 2016, a federal high court
in Abuja, presided by Justice Kolawole freed Sheikh El-Zakzaky.
He said: “In December 2016 the Federal High Court in Abuja freed
Sheikh Zakzaky from the illegal detention, ordered that he, along with
his wife, be compensated to the tune of N50m, a house be provided for
him in any part of the country he desires and security be provided for
his protection.
“The Buhari government deliberately acted in contempt of court and
refused to respect the judiciary. So which court is the presidency
talking about that will decide the fate of our leader?”
The IMN further declared that the fresh court case instituted by the
Kaduna state government was a mischievous plot to keep its leader in
perpetual detention.
“That the government mischievously concocted a new case in Kaduna,
three years after the Zaria massacre, accusing the leader of the
movement whose wife was shot, three children were killed, elder sister
and nephew were burned alive and he was also shot severally, of abetting
homicide.
“This was followed by a case in which over 100 members of the
movement were freed by the High Court in Kaduna with a ‘No Case
Submission’ implying that the case was only a mischief of keeping the
revered leader in illegal detention,” the statement added.