P6 REPLACEMENT

P6 REPLACEMENT

El-Zakzaky has lost an eye, cannot move one hand -counsel

From Andrew Agbese, Kaduna

Counsel to Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) Mr. Festus Okoye, yesterday confirmed that the legal team of the movement met with the IMN leader and his wife Zeenat recently, and found that El-Zakzaky was in a terrible shape having lost an eye, a hand and now walks with a limp.

The legal team of the IMN in a press briefing in Kaduna, said the wife Zeenat was in a better shape as the three bullets lodged in her sides had been removed through surgery.

“The leader of the Islamic movement in Nigeria now walks with a limp, the left eye is completely damaged, the left hand has lost its motor functions,” Okoye said.

He said from what the IMN leader recounted to them, it was obvious that the leader, his wife and three daughters survived what he called attacks by the Nigeria Army by the ‘skin of their teeth’ while he lost three of his sons.

Okoye said based on the instructions from the IMN leader, his legal team had taken the matter to court to enforce his fundamental human rights which he said had been infringed upon by his continued detention without trial and without being informed of the basis upon which he is being detained.

He said the IMN is seeking the court to declare that the invasion of the residence of El-Zakzaky in Zaria is a violation of his human rights, that the shooting of El-Zakzaky by armed soldiers is illegal and unconstitutional, that the extra judicial killing of three of El-Zakzaky’s children is illegal and unconstitutional and that the arrest of the IMN leader violates his human rights.

“We still insist there are three parties to the conflict of December 12 to 14 2016. These are the Nigeria Army, the Islamic movement in Nigeria and the Kaduna State Government. It is therefore clear that the issues have not been joined and Kaduna State Government cannot be seen as impartial arbiter in the whole conflict,” he asserted.

He said the IMN, having pulled out of the judicial commission of inquiry, cannot go back as it is clear to them that the commission is partisan while it cannot enforce some of the recommendation since one of the parties, the Nigeria Army, is a federal government agency.