Court orders immediate release of Shi’ites’ leader

On Friday, a Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the release of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, the leader of Islamic Movement in Nigeria, also known as Shi’ite sect, within 45 days. The court ruling follows several protest from the members of the sect.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole, delivering a joint judgment in the two rights enforcement suits filed by the two applicants, ordered that the government should provide a befitting accommodation for the applicants, their family members and followers who used to live with them before they were arrested.

The judge also ordered that the accommodation must be provided in Zaria, Kaduna State, or in other part of the state or alternatively any other part of northern Nigeria within the 45 days period.

The judge awarded N25million each, total of N50million, to the Shi’ite leader and his wife, for the violation of their rights by being held in unlawful custody since December 14, 2015.

The Shi’ite leader and his wife were arrested in a violent clash between members of his sect and soldiers in the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, Kaduna State in December 2015.

The applicants stressed that they were brutally injured and their house was destroyed by the Nigerian Army after the incident.