NewsRescue
Of recent Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the information Minister has played the security card as the reason for the continued incarceration of our leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky. For him, who lays claim to being a lawyer, to snub and insult the good conscience of Nigerians in this way is not only disappointing but also shameless, reprehensible and deeply repugnant.
We will like to draw the attention of the good people of Nigeria to the fact that flaunting the security issues and national interest as the reason behind the trampling of the fundamental human rights of any Nigerian is like saying that the Nigerian State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2 of 1984 which allowed for indefinite and incommunicado detention of Nigerian citizens- is still in operation, even though it was repealed in 1998 by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. The sooner Nigerians stand up against this brazen insult on our collective intelligence, the better, because the Minister is simply telling us before our own eyes that this Buhari administration has ousted court jurisdiction with immediate effect.
We believe it is the continued disregard being shown to the courts of the land that will breed national insecurity, not the other way round. No individual or government official is above the law. Acting above the law irreparably destroys the judicial system and is in itself an act that is a grave risk to national security. It is the law and courts that guarantee and protect the security of individuals and the State.
It is therefore surprising and disheartening that Acting president, Professor and Attorney Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, is presiding over the affairs of the nation in a time like this and involved in the flouting of court orders in what constitutes potentially grave crimes against humanity.
Maybe the government appears to have no one strong reason for their actions. That is why some of its high ranking officials will play the security card today, others talk of protective custody, and some others talk of appeal on the judgment freeing Sheikh Zakzaky from the custody of the DSS.
The present administration should not forget that those who have all been reportedly involved in government massacres and mass burial cover-up attempts the December, 2015 pogrom in Zaria are well known and documented. It beats the imagination of people of conscience that instead of the government to genuinely look for ways to do justice on the matter, which should begin by freeing the number one victim of Zaria massacre Sheikh Zakzaky, it is playing the ostrich.
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) demand a public apology from the federal government for the actions of its overzealous public officers who have publicly denigrated the rule of law by saying that the valid and subsisting orders of competent courts for the release of Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife would not be obeyed by the federal government.
We do once again unequivocally urge the Acting President to direct the State Security Services to release Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife from further incarceration in compliance with the orders of the federal high court.
SIGNED BY
IBRAHIM MUSA
PRESIDENT MEDIA FORUM OF IMN
10/06/17
Skype: ibrahim.musa42