Local Editor

Counsel to the Islamic Movement in Nigeria [IMN], Wednesday disclosed that the leader of the movement, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, was being detained at the Headquarters of the Department of State Security [DSS] in Abuja.

At a news conference in Kaduna, the IMN counsel led by Festus Okoye, said El-Zazzaky had lost his left eye while his left hand was partially paralyzed, adding that they could hardly recognize him when they met him in detention.

According to him, the IMN leader now walks with the assistance of limps, saying el-Zakzaky had become a complete shadow of himself after the attack by the Nigerian Army in Zaria on December 12, 2015.

Okoye further revealed that el-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, were fatally shot by soldiers who raided their Gyallesu residence which left several members of the movement dead.

Only recently, Director General of the Kaduna State Interfaith, Alhaji Namadi Musa, while testifying before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry [JCI], disclosed that the 347 members of the sect were given mass burial at Mando area in Kaduna after the army attack.

According to the lawyers, el-Zakzaky was quite frail and looked completely different from who he used to be before he was arrested by the army.

"He lost his left eye and he struggled to recognize us because of the damage done to him by the army. His left hand completely lost its motion function. The wife was shot thrice. I must say they are not in a good state of health. Several operations had been carried out on them, especially the leader of the IMN," said Maxwell Kyon, one of the lawyers who visited el-Zazzaky in detention.

He dismissed claims that the IMN leader was flown to France for medical treatment by the federal government, saying that all the operations on el-Zakzaky and his wife were carried out in an undisclosed hospital in Lagos and the Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna.

Okoye said during the meeting with el-Zakzaky, the legal team discussed the on-going panel set up by the Kaduna State Government on the Zaria clash.

He said el-Zakzaky told them to institute a case against the army and the government [Kaduna], as well as his continued detention at the DSS at the regular court.

He said that the IMN leader expressed his reservation over the Shiites putting up appearance before the Commission of Inquiry considering the composition of the commission and the fact that the Nigerian Army is a federal institution not subject to the control of the Kaduna State Government and its agencies.

He added that based on the instructions, the IMN had instituted a N2 billion suit against the federal government and its institutions for the abuse of the rights of the leader of the sect and the destruction of his residence.

He said on April 12, 2016, the legal team of the IMN leader filed two originating motions before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on behalf of the el-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat.

Joined in the suit, he said, are the Nigerian Army, the Chief of Army Staff, the DSS, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation.

He insisted that the IMN would not participate in the on-going panel on the clash as it will only amount to mere waste of time.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team