Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has faulted the Federal Government’s claim that the fate of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, lies in the hands of Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
The proscribed IMN, also known as Shi’ites, said the attack, arrest and detention of El-Zakzaky were masterminded by Federal Government agencies in the past four years.
It insisted that the Federal Government cannot deny its complicity in their laeder’s ordeal.
In a statement yesterday by its Media Forum President, Ibrahim Musa, IMN said the Federal Government’s ‘complicity’ in the Zaria clash between its members and soldiers in December 2015 led to what it called extra-judicial murder of its members and the arrest and detention of its leader.
It said: “We wish to categorically repudiate the audacious insinuations by AGF Malami that the fate of El-Zakzaky and his wife lies in the hands of the Kaduna State government and its governor, Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai. We are not deceived by any denial of complicity of the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.
“Firstly, the Federal Government’s complicity in the heinous genocide in Zaria of December 2015, that led to the extrajudicial murder of over 1,000 members of IMN and the subsequent arrest and detention of the Sheikh is beyond doubt.
“This much was accepted and testified to by the General himself (President Buhari) in an interview he granted a Qatari Television Channel while on a visit there as early as March 2016. The Saudi Crown Prince’s self-confessions during a visit to the United States (U.S), that the brutal and inhuman suppression and the continuing illegal detention of Sheikh El-Zakzaky was part of his major foreign policy achievements, further confirms the Federal Government’s involvement, as foreign policy issues are in the exclusive list of the Federal Government.
“Was that not why the Saudi King was the first to call General Buhari in December 2015, soon after the Zaria genocide, to congratulate him for what he called a victory against terrorism? Was that not also why General Buhari wanted to smuggle Nigeria into a Saudi-led military alliance at the time in the name of fighting terrorism? Was not the then Nigerian Defence Minister, Mansur Dan Ali, accorded honour by the Saudi authorities on behalf of the Federal Government for the role the Nigerian military, an agent of the Federal Government, played?
“Secondly, the attacks, arrest and subsequent detention of Sheikh El-Zakzaky were by Federal Government agencies. For the past four years, the Department of State Services (DSS) took custody of the Sheikh and his wife from the Army. Nobody is granted access to see him except with the express permission of these federal agents. It even had to take the involvement of the AGF for anyone, even the Kaduna State-established Judicial Commission of Inquiry at the time, to access Sheikh El-Zakzaky.
“Furthermore, when the Federal High Court declared the detention of the Sheikh and his spouse illegal and unconstitutional and ordered their immediate release from custody forthwith, the order was against the DSS, Nigeria Police Force and the AGF, all representing the Federal Government.
“The Kaduna State government was never a party in any of these matters. Who is the AGF now fooling that it is purely Kaduna State affair?”
