Finally, Nigerian govt obeys court order as El-zakzaky, wife leave for India

The Nigerian government may have finally obeyed the orders of a Kaduna High Court which had permitted the incarcerated Shi’ite leader, El-Zakzaky, medical leave abroad.

Emerging reports say that the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim el-Zakzaky and his wife were on Monday sighted at the Abuja International Airport, preparatory for their trip to India to seek medical attention.

A Kaduna State high court had on August 5 granted El-Zakzaky and his wife medical leave to undergo treatment at Medanta Hospital, India.

According to the court, the couple would return for the continuation of their prosecution after their discharge from the hospital.

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However, Kaduna state government had, two days after the judgment was delivered, appealed the order at another high court in the State.

Though the new court upheld the leave order earlier granted to the couple, it however gave seven conditions the applicants must fulfil in order to be allowed to travel.

The conditions include that “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.

“That the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should 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.

“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.”

It is not clear if the IMN leader eventually met the state government’s conditions for his travel before the Monday departure date.

The development comes after an Abuja High Court found IMN group guilty of violent protests and proscribed it.

IMN members’ protests had followed the incarceration of their leader since 2015 by the Nigerian Government, which refused to obey earlier court ruling that ordered the release of El-Zakzaky and wife.

They were banned after one of their recent protests led to the death of a Channels Television’s reporter, a Deputy Commissioner of Police among others.

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