Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria on Monday asked the Federal Government to tell Nigerians the whereabouts of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky and his wife. They wondered that three weeks after the arrest and subsequent detention of the Shi’ite leader and his wife by the Nigerian Army, neither the members nor their immediate family members had access to them.
In a statement issued by the President of the Islamic Movement Media Forum, Ibrahim Musa, said members of the movement were anxious of the whereabouts of their leader. He said holding the Shi’ite leader incommunicado “smacks of deceit, conspiracy and outright manipulation of the public’s view of the army’s massacre in Zaria.”
Musa said:
“The condition and whereabouts of the Islamic Movement’s leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky as well as that of his wife, are still unknown, three weeks after their arrest and detention by the Nigerian military.
“The Islamic Movement as well as the general public are now seriously anxious. Where is Sheikh Zakzaky and why has he been denied his constitutional rights to an attorney, bail and visitation?”
“If the government is truly interested in finding a peaceful way out of this crisis the army initiated and executed, as the government wants the public to believe, it should by now have allowed an unimpeded access to Sheikh Zakzaky.
“First and foremost, his first family members and leading brothers of the Islamic Movement and his doctor should have met him by now, since he was shot by the soldiers when they attacked his residence.
He added:
“We are highly agitated by this seeming needless incommunicado the Sheikh has been placed in. The Federal Government should tell the public where Sheikh Zakzaky is, because rumours of various degrees are flying about his health.
“We believe it is only when the Sheikh’s health condition is made public by the relevant authorities that the tension brewing among the populace will be doused.”