45 days: Zakzaky supporters march to Human Rights Commission
Supporters of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim Zakzaky has marched to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) headquarters in Abuja to protest his continued detention with his wife, 45 days after a court ordered his release. Hundreds of the supporters under the aegis of Academic Forum of the Islamic Movement […]
Supporters of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim Zakzaky has marched to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) headquarters in Abuja to protest his continued detention with his wife, 45 days after a court ordered his release.
Hundreds of the supporters under the aegis of Academic Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (AFIMN) called on the federal government to comply with the order of the court to save the country’s image as time is running out.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole had on December 2, 2016 awarded a cumulative sum of N50 million to the Zakzakys and ordered the Attorney General of the Federation to provide a new accommodation in any part of Kaduna or Northern Nigeria that they prefer within 45 days.
Addressing the gathering, the secretary of the AFIMN, Abdullahi Musa, asked the human rights commission to intervene in the matter, maintaining that the federal government was “becoming more brutally totalitarian.”
“The continued detention of Sheik Zakzaky even after the court has ordered for him to be freed is quite illegal and unconstitutional and severely infringes on and tramples upon his fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended as well as the provisions of the African Charter on human rights,” he said.
Responding, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr Oti Ovrawah commended the protesters for their peaceful conduct, and pledged to take up the matter with the authorities.
“We appeal to you to continue to be peaceful in your agitations. It is within your right to protest. We have received your complaints and we will pass it across to the authorities,” she said.