The Kaduna state government says Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, leader of
the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), must not seek asylum in
India.
In a statement signed by Samuel Aruwan, commissioner for
internal security and home affairs, the government of Kaduna which
is currently prosecuting El-Zakzaky, said steps must be taken to
ensure the IMN leader and Zeenah, his wife, do not become fugitives
from justice.
Below read the press statement
Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky is facing criminal trial before the
Kaduna High Court on charges filed in April 2018. The Kaduna State
Government is prosecuting Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky on an
eight-count charge, including culpable homicide punishable with
death. He and his wife are the first and second defendants in The
State versus Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and Another (charge no.
KDH/KAD/60c/2018), and his plea was taken on 2nd August 2018. His
application for bail was refused on 4th October 2018, and he has
since remained in the lawful custody of the state, and not in
unlawful detention as being wrongly disseminated.
On Monday, 5th August 2019, the Kaduna High Court granted an
application for medical leave filed by Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife,
Mrs. Zeenah Ibrahim. The court specifically said it was granting
the two defendants “leave to travel out of Nigeria for urgent
medical treatment at Medanta Hospital, India, under strict
supervision of the Respondent and to return to Nigeria (for
continuation of trial) as soon as they are discharged from the
hospital”.
The Kaduna State Government respects the right of anyone to seek
treatment anywhere in the world, even for malaria or common cold,
so long as they are paying for it. But in the case of persons
facing trial for serious offenses, necessary safeguards are
required to ensure that such persons do not become fugitives from
justice or frustrate trial by claiming asylum or the status of
political prisoner in the host country.
In compliance with the court ruling, the Kaduna State Government
has filed at the Kaduna High Court terms for strict supervision of
the medical leave, as follows:
1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria shall confirm the appointments of the defendants/applicants
with the Medanta Hospital, India, and undertake all necessary
diplomatic arrangements and protocols to ensure compliance with the
conditions of the medical leave.
2. Each of the defendants/applicants shall undertake to return
to Nigeria to continue their trial as soon as they are discharged
from the hospital, and shall also be responsible for the cost of
their travel, treatment and living expenses while on their medical
leave.
3. Each of the defendants/applicants shall produce two prominent
and reliable persons as sureties, one being a first class
chief/emir of national repute and the other a prominent person
within Kaduna State who shall undertake to produce the defendants
whenever they are needed. The sureties must also produce evidence
of landed property within Kaduna State.
4. The Federal Government of Nigeria shall obtain from the
Government of India an irrevocable guarantee that it will not
entertain any application by the defendants/applicants or any third
party seeking asylum under any guise or conferring the status of
political prisoners or any other status aside from being medical
patients on the defendants/applicants and shall also restrain the
defendants/applicants from any act inimical to the corporate
existence of Nigeria.
5. Each of the defendants/applicants shall undertake in writing,
endorsed by their Counsel, that while on medical treatment in
India, they shall do nothing to jeopardize the ongoing trial, the
peace and security of Nigeria and the laws of the Republic of India
in whatever form.
6. Security agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria shall
escort the defendants/applicants and remain with them throughout
the duration of their treatment in India and thereafter shall
return with them after their discharge from the hospital.
7. The Nigerian High Commission in India shall undertake prior
vetting and grant consent before any visitor has access to the
defendants/applicants while in the Republic of India.
As is readily evident from the above, many of these terms of
supervision depend for their actualization on actions by the
Federal Government of Nigeria which is the sovereign power vested
with the constitutional responsibility for foreign affairs.
While the Kaduna State Government respects the court’s ruling on
medical leave, it disagrees with the premises on which it is based.
Therefore, an appeal will be lodged on the matter, but a stay of
execution will not be sought as the state government believes that
a person may choose to travel abroad for any medical condition at
his own cost.
As stated earlier, El-Zakzaky and his wife are defendants in a
criminal case. Given the pendency of this case, the proper thing is
to await its conclusion. However, the Kaduna State Government notes
that perceptions of this case are suffused in a veritable avalanche
of deliberate falsehood, disinformation and revisionism, powered by
vested interests.
Therefore, this statement is issued to set the records straight,
as follows:
1. Between 12-14 December 2015, there were clashes in Zaria
between the Nigerian Army and the Islamic Movement in Nigeria
(IMN). The clashes began when IMN blocked a public highway and
refused to lift the blockade to enable passage by the convoy of the
Chief of Army Staff. The clashes resulted in the loss of lives and
the destruction of property.
2. Following the clashes, IMN leader Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky
and his wife, Zeenah Ibrahim, were arrested by the Nigerian Army
and passed to the custody of the federal authorities.
3. On 29th January 2016, the Kaduna State Government constituted
a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the matter. The 13-member
commission of inquiry was chaired by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba
of the Court of Appeal.
4. Among other findings, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry
assigned responsibility for the Zaria clashes to Malam Ibrahim
El-Zakzaky as leader of the IMN. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry
noted that “members of the IMN owe absolute loyalty to Ibrahim
El-Zakzaky. He therefore bears responsibility for all the acts of
lawlessness committed by the organization and should therefore be
held responsible, fully investigated and prosecuted”.
5. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry also recommended the
proscription of the IMN, noting its disregard for the Constitution
and the laws of the Nigerian state.
6. The Kaduna State Government accepted these findings of the
Judicial Commission of Inquiry and commenced the processes for
prosecuting Mr. El-Zakzaky.
7. In October 2016, the Kaduna State Government declared the IMN
an unlawful society, drawing on powers vested by Section 45 (1) of
the Constitution and Section 97A of the Penal Code (Cap 110, Laws
of Kaduna State, 1991).
8. While in the custody of the Federal Government, Mr.
El-Zakzaky’s counsels filed a case against the Federal Government
for the enforcement of his fundamental rights at the Federal High
Court.
9. Neither that court nor any other court has made any order
against the Kaduna State Government for the release of Mr.
El-Zakzaky on bail. After the conclusion of the Judicial Commission
of Inquiry process, the Kaduna State Government requested the
transfer of Mr. El-Zakzaky to the state for the legal processes to
begin.
10. In 2018, the Federal Government eventually acceded to the
Kaduna State Government’s request for the transfer of Mr. and Mrs.
El-Zakzaky from its custody to facilitate their proper arraignment
before the Kaduna State High Court.
11. On 19th April 2018, the Kaduna State Government filed an
eight-count charge against Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, Mallama Zeenah
Ibrahim, Yakubu Yahaya Katsina and Sanusi Abdulkadir Koki for the
offenses of:
a. Criminal Conspiracy
b. Culpable Homicide punishable with death
c. Unlawful Assembly
d. Wrongful restraint
e. Disturbance of public peace
f. Voluntarily causing grievous hurt
g. Inciting disturbance
h. Breach of Public Peace
12. The eight-count charge in The State versus El-Zakzaky
(KDH/KAD/60c/2018) were filed under Sections 59,47, 66, 77, 73, 222
and 78 of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State.
13. On 2nd August 2018, the Kaduna High Court took the pleas of
the first and second defendants, Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and Mrs.
Zeenah Ibrahim. Also, on that same day, the court heard the
defendants’ application for bail which was refused in a ruling made
on 4th October 2018.
14. The court ordered that the defendants be kept in prison
custody and that the defendants be allowed access to their personal
physicians alongside physicians of the State. However, at his
request, Mr. Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife are being kept in SSS
facilities which were deemed more comfortable than the Kaduna
Prison.
15. The trial suffered initial delays because the third and
fourth defendants/applicants remain at large. That was the case
when the matter first came up in court on 15th May 2018. It was
adjourned till 21st June 2018 because the charges had not been
served on the third and fourth defendants. An accident involving
the trial judge further delayed the hearing scheduled for 21st June
2018. Subsequently, the arraignment of the first and second
defendants was done on 2nd August 2018.
16. The substantive charge was adjourned sine die with the
agreement of all counsels representing the State and the defendants
upon the assignment of the trial judge to duties at the Election
Tribunal.
17. However, the Kaduna High Court heard Malam El-Zakzaky’s
application for leave to seek medical attention abroad on Monday,
29th July 2019. At the hearing, counsel to the Kaduna State
Government opposed the application for medical leave largely
because it was based on medical reports not issued by a government
medical facility. The court granted the application on Monday, 5th
August 2019.
18. Counsels representing the defendants/applicants in the case
have been appearing before the Kaduna High Court. It is baffling
that the same counsels to the defendants, led by a senior advocate,
Femi Falana, are in their public comments, giving the impression
that there is no trial ongoing at the Kaduna High Court, which
denied bail to Mr. El-Zakzaky and consequent to which Mr. Ibrahim
El-Zakzaky remains in lawful custody.
19. It is the considered contention of the Kaduna State
Government that decades of impunity emboldened the IMN to engage in
various unlawful activities culminating in the tragic events of
December 2015. In prosecuting the case, the state government is
affirming simple canons of the rule of law, that no one is above
its long arm and that all persons are equal in its eyes. Mob
pressure, such as the carnage visited on the streets of Abuja to
force Mr. El-Zakzaky’s release without due process, cannot be
allowed to succeed.
20. Matters have been joined in court. The two defendants are
represented by counsel of their choice and they have taken the
pleas. It is left to the court to decide the case. The campaign of
violence, disinformation and misinformation on this matter must now
stop. Only a court of law can free Mr. El-Zakzaky, and the court
before which he is standing trial is the High Court of Kaduna
State.
21. It is ridiculous to feign respect for the rule of law while
ignoring legal processes ongoing before a state High Court.
Campaigns of calumny, abuse, disinformation and disrespect for law
and order will not trump due process. Equality before the law
obliges everyone to respect the trial process before a court, not
to irresponsibly traduce it.