After contracting COVID-19 Release Sheikh Zakzaky, wife now — IMN

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria said it is deeply worried that six days after contracting coronavirus while in detention, Malama Zeenah Ibrahim, wife of Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, has not been taken to any specialized hospital for medical attention.

In a statement on Friday signed by its President, Media Forum, Ibrahim Musa, the movement expressed fear that the infection might exposed the sexagenarian to more life threatening health issues and therefore called for their immediate release from detention.

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The statement which read in part said, “We all know that COVID-19 requires an immediate response of urgent adherence to medical advice, more so, Malama Zeenah Ibrahim has been denied treatment for acute medical conditions including severe arthritis of the knee for five years now. Yet she is still in Kaduna prison at the moment, yet to be hospitalized, and yet to receive proper health care.

“Given her underlying medical conditions and age, her infection places her at heightened risk of severe illness and/or death. Sheikh Zakzaky himself suffers from many underlying conditions which put him at high risk of developing life-threatening symptoms should he contract the virus.

“The couple are next due to appear in court on Monday 25 January to face the bogus charges brought against them by the government of El-rufa’i. The length of time they have spent in custody since being arrested in 2015 reinforces the view that the Buhari regime is conducting a witch-hunt against the couple and abusing the judicial system in the hope that they will die quietly in custody.

“We believe Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife should not be in custody in the first place. A competent court in Abuja freed both of them on 2nd December, 2016 but the federal government contemptuously refused to obey the judgement of the court.

“We call upon the well-meaning Nigerians and the international community to prevail over the Federal and Kaduna State Governments to ensure maximum health care for this patient that is in her 60s and still grieving the extra-judicial killing of her 6 children. We pray to Almighty Allah to grant her good health, protect her husband and other inmates as well as the prison officials from this deadly virus.

The movement said “Buhari regime at the centre and the El-rufa’i led Kaduna state government should be held responsible for anything bad that happen to our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife.”

• We are not aware Zakzaky’s wife tested positive – Correctional center

However, the Controller, Kaduna Correctional Service, Ibrahim Labbo Maradun said the service is not aware that the wife of the leader of Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Zeenat Ibrahim Zakzaky had tested positive for Covid-19.

He said he is yet to receive her test result since the sample was taken on Wednesday by officials of the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

Daily Trust recalls that her son, Muhammed Ibrahim Zakzaky announced his mother’s condition in a statement on Friday after the couple’s doctor had visited them last week at the prison.

But the controller of the facility told Daily Trust that she has been in isolation since her sample was taken.

According to him, “As far as I am concerned, the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) officials took her sample on Wednesday around 5pm and I am yet to receive the result.

“She has been in isolation since the day and her personal physician has been seeing her from time to time in the company of the doctors representing the state and the correctional service.”