El-Zakzaky’s continued detention an invitation to anarchy – Shi’ites

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) on Monday blasted the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for the continued detention of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife despite a valid Federal High Court order for their release three years ago.

The current administration, according to the IMN, will go down in history for contempt over its failure to release its leader.

The group in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Ibrahim Musa, “echoed what the presiding judge said while delivering the judgment, that he fears what would follow a refusal to obey his court’s order.”

“The judge had warned the government that holding the Sheikh for so long amounted to great danger, insisting that ‘If the applicant dies in custody, which I do not pray for, it could result in many needless deaths.”

“But Buhari has stubbornly kept deaf ears to that and contemptuously continued to detain them. Instead of releasing them, Buhari opted to file bogus charges against the Sheikh and his wife through Kaduna State government.

Read also: Buhari treating Niger Delta with bias -IYC

“It also warned well-meaning Nigerians that the contemptuous attitude of the federal government towards court orders is an invitation to anarchy.

“This stunning disregard for the rule of law and human rights does not come to the Islamic Movement as a great surprise because Buhari’s utter disregard for court judgements is legendary, and statistics has it that he has disregarded courts in at least 40 occasions since the inception of his government.

“In the case of Sheikh Zakzaky, the government has at various times proffered different contradictory reasons for its flagrant contempt of court. One of the most absurd of such was the statement attributed to the President himself that national security is over and above the rule of law. By this his warped belief, he has stirred the country towards the path of dictatorship, to which all other well-meaning Nigerians must stand and fight against.”

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