Your Day Of Reckoning Is At Hand - Shi’ites Tell El-Rufai

Nasir El-Rufai and Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, otherwise known as Shi’ites has rebuked Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai over the continuous detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife in a Kaduna Correctional Centre.

In a press release on Sunday, the group’s spokesman Ibrahim Musa slammed the governor over his recent comments justifying El-Zakzaky’s detention.

The governor had in a recent live broadcast said the detained Muslim cleric was being tried for the alleged crimes he committed in Zaria for over 30 years, and vowed never to release him.

Reacting, the Shi’ites said no amount of blackmail or misuse of state power could avert the whirlwind of justice from catching up him; adding that justice will be served in El-Zakzaky’s case.

The sect assured that its members will intensify peaceful campaigns until justice is done to Sheikh Zakzaky and other victims of Zaria genocide of December, 2015.

The press release reads, “With increasing pressure on the Buhari regime from home and abroad occasioned by the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague to investigate the crimes against humanity committed by this regime during the Zaria Massacre of 2015, there have been increased efforts at belittling the matter and trivializing the issues.

“This reached a peak in the last hours when the Kaduna state governor, Nasiru El-Rufai was rattling half-truths and pathological lies, for which he has come to be known.

“In this his warped position, the governor of Kaduna State insinuated that so long as he remains Kaduna Governor, Sheikh Zakzaky would remain in detention. According to the governor, Sheikh Zakzaky is being tried for crimes he and his followers committed in the last 30 years in Zaria.

“On the contrary, after the criminal invasion of the Sheikh’s residence in December of 2015 and the subsequent killing of hundreds of his supporters including his sons and relatives by Officers and men of the Nigerian Army, the Sheikh and his wife were shot at and arrested. The Sheikh and his supporters were the victims of state terror and crimes and not the perpetrators.

“They also declared that the wife was not in detention but “merely keeping her husband company” and that she was free to walk out anytime she so wishes. So, what crimes is Elrufai referring to?

“Governor Elrufai’s fraudulent claims that only court can free Sheikh Zakzaky pales in the face of the obvious. Firstly, the fabricated charges of inciting, aiding and abetting crime brought against him (as a ploy to perpetually keep him in detention) have been squashed in the High and Appeal courts. Secondly, the Federal High court had declared his detention as unconstitutional and therefore ordered his release.

“The government has remained in contempt of that order. Clearly, Elrufai, like the master he is working for, General Buhari, has no respect for the rule of law.”