… Panel of inquiry adjourns again for 6th time

From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

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NIGERIAN Army yesterday demanded speedy hearing at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by Kaduna State Government to investi­gate December 2015, Zaria clash between the Army and members of Islamic Move­ment in Nigeria (IMN), the Shi’ites.
The panel had on Mon­day, adjourned its sitting till Wednesday to allow counsel to the movement to have ac­cess to its leader, Sheikh Ibra­him Zakzaky.
However, at its resumed sitting yesterday, one of the counsel to the commission, Yusuf Ali (SAN ) informed that the legal team of the commission had gotten ac­cess to IMN leader.
Ali said Sheik Zakzaky had indicated interest to pres­ent his own side of the story before the commission, add­ing that it was based on ac­cess to the IMN leader that there was need to adjourn the sitting again.
But expressing worry over the frequent adjournments, one of the counsel to the Ni­gerian Army, Mr. Biola Oye­banji opposed the application for adjournment, saying that his clients deserved speedy hearing having waited for so long for IMN to present its own side of the story without doing so.
Mr. Ali argued that IMN is a corporate body, while Zakzaky is an individual, and as such the IMN could go on with its memorandum without necessarily accessing Zakzaky.
He further argued that Ni­gerian Army needed to be heard at yesterday’s sitting, even if the hearing would not end immediately, adding that, “what happens if same circumstance presents itself at next sitting”?.
However, the Chairman of the commission, Justice Mu­hammadu Lawal Garba as­sured that every adjournment was based on any circum­stance that presents itself.
In adjourning the sitting to April 6, 2016, Justice Garba said the commission care­fully considered Yusuf Ali’s submission that IMN leader had been accessed and that the IMN leader was ready to present his own side of the story.
“The commission is in­clined to grant an opportunity to him to be heard because the reason for previous ad­journments was lack of ac­cess to the IMN leader.
“We, therefore, adjourn the sitting till April 6, 2016 be­cause we don’t want to work with one sided facts, we need comprehensive facts from all sides. We need hard facts, not garnished facts.”
Meanwhile, counsel to the Shi’ite group were not pres­ent at yesterday’s sitting and no memorandum was sub­mitted, because they had at the weekend announced their withdrawal from the commis­sion at a press conference.