Sola Ojo, Kaduna
A Kaduna State High Court judge , on Tuesday, in her judgement in the ‘No Case Submission’ filed by the defense lawyers, freed nearly 100 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) arrested in December 2015 following a bloody clash between the Islamic sect and men of Nigerian Army that reportedly left hundreds dead.
The sect members were discharged and acquitted of the charges levelled against them as contained in a statement signed by the President Media Forum of IMN, Ibrahim Musa.
The statement read, “This judgement has not only vindicated the members of the IMN, but it is certainly a victory for perseverance in the face of extreme persecution. It is a victory for truth and justice against tyranny and impunity.
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“The attack was sequel to the unlawful invasion of the privacy of their residence and eventual destruction of the house completely.
“This has been aptly described by several human rights bodies as a massacre. To worsen these flagrant crimes against humanity, bodies of all the hundreds killed were hurriedly and secretly buried in mass graves about 100km away from the scene, apparently in a shoddy attempt at hiding the crime and its magnitude.”
The sect also reiterated its call for the release of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife, who had equally been in the custody of the Director of State Services (DSS) for a long time now.
“We are all aware of the crude tactics of the Kaduna state government led by Malam Nasir el-Rufai all in his devilish plots at perpetuating the persecution against the Islamic Movement and the continued detention incommunicado of Sheikh Zakzaky and his ailing wife in spite of previous court judgement ordering their immediate release from detention, thereby further flaunting his fundamental rights and rights to liberty.
“With this victory in the court today, the false charges filed against them of aiding and abetting the culpable homicide has been punctured for good.
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“We await the response of the Kaduna state government as Sheikh Zakzaky’s case comes up in the next two days. We expect them to respect the judgement of this Honourable Court and the course of justice to withdraw the fake charges against him and release him with immediate effect.
“As a peaceful Movement, we have kept to our clean tradition of seeking redress through peaceful means without any resort to violence despite deliberate and persistent provocations by the government.
“Today, Kaduna state government has again failed in court after a fair trial. We therefore give praises to the Almighty Allah for yet another successful outing, which further proves to the world that the Movement and its leader are only victims of impunity and mischievous plots,” the statement added.