Federal Government to the court
that Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky was on December 14, 2015, taken into protective
custody by the Department of State Services, DSS, following an intelligence
report that he was going to be attacked and killed.
EL-ZAKZAKY-FALANA
FG, which made the
disclosure while responding to a N2 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit
the detained Islamic leader filed through his lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN,
said it kept the applicant in detention to avoid the circumstance that made the
Boko Haram sect to turn violent in 2009.
“It is common knowledge
that it was after the extra-judicial killing of the former leader of the Boko
Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, in police custody that the group which prior to that,
had operated quietly just like the Islamic Movement of Nigeria members,
metamorphosed into a full blown terrorist group plaguing the country and has
killed thousands of people in various attacks.
“That up till this present
time, despite the efforts of the Nigerian Army to quell the activities of this
deadly group, the North Eastern part of Nigeria has been rendered unsafe as
terrifying activities of Boko Haram in that area which involves killing,
kidnapping, bombing, etc, has turned the indigenes of these communities into
displaced persons who now live in camps around the country in the most
deplorable conditions.
“That the 1st respondent
believe that if the applicant, who is the leader of Islamic Movement of
Nigeria, one of the largest Islamic groups in the country, is allowed to be
killed as revealed in the security report, the country may be plunged into
another Boko Haram crisis which was what necessitated the remand of the
applicant in protective custody until it can be ascertained that he is no
longer in such danger”, FG stated in a 13-paragraphed counter-affidavit dated
June 9.
Besides, FG, via the
counter-affidavit deposed by one Ayodeji Ibitoye, an operative in the Legal
Services Department of the DSS, told the court that in order to save the
applicant’s life, he was evacuated to the medical facility of the Service.
It said the applicant was
being attended to by “best doctors around”, saying the treatment has gulped
“millions of naira at the expense of the state”.
“That the applicant is in
protective custody to shield them from residents of Zaria, particularly their
neighbours in Gyallesu who have vowed to avenge the oppression and agony the
applicant and his followers subjected them to over the years.
“That members of the
Nigeria Supreme council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has come to see the
applicant”, FG added.
Meantime, Justice Gabriel
Kolawole has fixed July 23 to hear the substantive suit.
Sued as respondents in the
matter were the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Abubakar Malami, SAN, the DSS, and the Nigerian Police Force.
Specifically, the Shi’ite
leader, is begging the court to enforce his fundamental rights to life,
personal liberty, dignity of human person, right to private and family life and
private property.
Falana is contending that
the continued detention of his client without being charged before a competent
court is in violation of his right to fair hearing as enshrined in section 36
of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
He said that his client had
since lost one of his eye owing to the treatment meted out to him by security
agents acting on behalf of the federal government, adding that the detained
Sh’ite leader was denied access to his medical doctors, family members and
relatives.
Insisting that his client’s
rights to health and association as enshrined in Article 16 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples Rights was violated, Falana wants the court to
declare that detention of the applicant “without access to his family and
friends was not only illegal but in violation of his rights to freedom of
association as enshrined in section 40 of the Constitution”.
Likewise, he is praying the
court for, “An order directing the immediate and unconditional release of the
applicant from the custody of the 1st and 2nd respondents.
“An order restraining the
respondents from further violating the applicants fundamental rights in any
manner whatsoever and howsoever without lawful justification.
As well as, “An order
compelling the respondents, jointly and severally to pay the applicant the sum
of N2billion as general and aggravated damages for the illegal violation of his
fundamental rights to personal liberty, dignity of person, fair hearing,
health, freedom of movement an freedom of association”.
It will be recalled that
Zakzaky’s arrest and detention followed a violent clash that occurred at Zaria
in Kaduna State on December 14, 2015, between his followers and detachments of
the Nigerian Army accompanying the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General TY
Buratai.
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