The Nigerian presidency has said leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky cannot be released from detention in public interest and security concerns.
On December 2, 2016, a federal high court in Abuja had declared the continued detention of the Islamic cleric and his wife illegal and ordered their immediate release.
The Buhari government continues to disobey the court order.
A top presidency official, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday, January 19, 2017.
According to him, the issue of the release of Zakzaky is not exclusively legal as it has security and public interest as against individual interest undertone.
Outlining what he called the obstacles to Zakzaky’s release, the official said: “The major constitutional policy objective of government as stated in section 14 (2) (b) is public and not individual security.
“The issue of the release of Zakzaky is not exclusively legal. It has security and public interest as against individual interest undertone.
“Public interest and national security implications must be factored into consideration in line with international practices that conventionally place national security and public interest above any other individual claim of right.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria is looking into the case with the public and security interest dimensions into consideration.”
On the said detention of Zakzaky’s wife alongside her husband, the official explained that the wife was not of any security interests and therefore was merely keeping her husband’s company” in the apartment in which he is kept.
“She is not under detention. If it is her wish, that of her husband or of the IMN, she will be allowed to go home in a matter of hours,” the official said.
Sheikh El-Zakzaky, along with his wife, was arrested after an army invasion of his home on December 14, 2015, after a street clash between the movement and officers of the Nigerian army.
The army killed at least 347 members of the group in the bloody crackdown on the Shi’ite compound which lasted for several days. The Shia sect claims over 800 of its members murdered in the genocide.
He was shot several times in the bloody crackdown, one of his wives was killed by Nigerian soldiers in a genocidal attack by the Nigerian Army under the command of Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, in collaboration with Governor Nasir El Rufai.
