Kaduna: El-Rufai files fresh charges against El-Zakzaky
The Kaduna State Governornment has filed fresh charges against the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky.
The new charges followed the Shiites leader’s acquittal and discharge at a state high court.
Justice Gideon Kurada on Wednesday ordered El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, freed after they were acquitted of all charges against them.
Kurada found that the charges were filed against the couple in 2018 pursuant to the penal law enacted by the state government in 2017 over an alleged offence committed in 2015.
He said the state government cannot arraign someone for a crime that was not an offence at the time.
But counsel for the state government, Dari Bayero, says fresh charges have been filed against the Shiites leader under the Treason and Treasonable Offences Act before a Federal High Court.
He also said the Nasir El-Rufai government would appeal the case.
“We are going to appeal, there is no doubt about it; in fact, we have obtained the court judgment because we are not in agreement with my Lord’s reasoning and conclusion, it is not in consonance with the facts on the ground.”
El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, had been detained since December 2015 following a deadly clash between IMN Shiites and the Nigerian Army.
Reports say the army at least 1,000 unarmed members of the group.
