A political pressure group, the Wailing Wailers, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the secret police, the State Security Services to obey the court order directing the release of the Shi’ite cleric, Ibrahim Zakzaky and his wife, who have been in detention close to a year.
An Abuja court on Friday, December 2, 2016 ordered the release of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, his wife, and other members of his sect who has been illegally detained by the Buhari government since December last year.
The Wailing Wailers, in an e-mailed statement to The Trent, signed by Usman Abubakar, the group’s spokesperson, called on the Buhari government to obey the rule of law and immediately comply with the court order and free the Muslim cleric, his wife, and other Shi’ite illegally detained by the government.
Below is the full text of the press statement.
We call on the federal government of Nigeria led by the President Muhammadu Buhari and the Department of Security Service, (DSS) to release the leader of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) Mr. Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and others with immediate effect.
The court, an Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, on Friday the 2nd of December, 2016, gave an order for the release of the leader of the Shi’a Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
Mr. El-Zakzaky was arrested by the military on the 14th of December, 2015, after the Nigerian army interrupted their peaceful procession along Zaria which led to a shooting by the Nigerian security forces.
The army killed at least 450 members of the group and hurriedly buried them in a mass grave in Kaduna State which is a very barbaric and sadistic act of any government that should protect the lives and properties of her citizens.
Mr. El-Zakzaky approached the court to demand his release, months after he was arrested without being charged to Court.
The Court declared that his arrest and continued detention violated his fundamental rights as a peaceful, law abiding citizen of Nigeria who has never been linked with any violent or terrorist acts.
Delivering the Ruling in Abuja Court, the Hon. Justice Gabriel Kolawole, rejected the submission of the counsel to the State Security Service, Tijjani Gazali, that Mr. El-Zakzaky was kept in protective custody of the SSS.
Mr. El-Zakzaky or his family members never requested to be kept in protective custody, but, the Buhari’s Government, in the exhibition and demonstration of lawlessness and flagrant flaunting and violation of the laws of the land, the Nigerian law, detained him without him being charged to court.
We opine that the decision to incaserate the Islamic cleric and his wife for their safety is unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional, where it is not voluntarily requested by them. IMN Members, Nigerians and International bodies have been demanding that Mr. Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his family be released unconditionally.
For general knowledge and fact, you can only detain and keep a terrorist who is dangerous to his community or a nation in Protective custody to prevent them from harming other people. In the case of Zakzaky, he is not a terrorist, he is a law abiding citizen of Nigeria who is minding his business without violating the laws of the land. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, (as amended) guarantees freedom of association which Islamic Movement of Nigeria also enjoy.
The people of Nigeria can still recall that this present government benefited and enjoyed the support of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria to which President Muhammadu Buhari and Kaduna State Governor, Mr Nasir Elrufai were both seen in pictures with Shiite leaders before the 2015 elections.
We now wonder why he is being treated inhumanly, with disdain and disgust. The barbaric decision by this government to incaserate him for so long is of great danger and it is alien to the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is the grundnorm and the Supreme law of the land, and in which the fundamental rights of the citizens of the nation Nigeria is enshrined and entrenched. The dastardly acts of this government and the flagrant violations of Nigerian Laws and the Orders of the Honourable Court poses a dangerous threat to our democracy, and in fact the rape of democracy .
The Government is bound to obey the decisions and the Orders of the court given by Hon. Justice Gabriel Kolawole, that the government should within 45 days release the Mr. ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his family to the police, who shall within 24 hours take them, guarded by escort, to a safe place without any further rearrest.
Nigeria is a democratic nation governed by laws which is above the personal wishes of any person no matter how highly placed. We must uphold the tenets of our democracy to the hilt and at all time. We must vehemently condemn the support of anyone who violates the tenets of democracy.
We therefore, call on all well-meaning Nigerians and leaders around the world for the sake of the survival and sustenance of our painfully earned democracy that must prevail over President Buhari and his DSS, and in upholding the Rule of Law, cause the Government to obey the order of the Court, as in the case of Mr Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and others and set them free from incarceration, as ruled by the of court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria.
Usman Abubakar
Ag. NPS, Wailing Wailers
Headquarters, FCT, Abuja.
Contact Via Twitter @NGRWailers.
