El-Zakzaky, victims of 2015 clash meet, share stories of loss, sorrow

Almost six years after a military confrontation with his followers turned his life upside down, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky had a chance of meeting the survivors of the December 2015 incident.

Speaking in Abuja September 20, El-Zakzaky encouraged his followers, families of dead victims and survivors, to accept the experience as God-send.

He urged them to always remember the persecution and hardships meted out to Imam Hussein (AS) when the dreaded army of Yazid besieged and massacre them.

He also explained how he would have loved to meet then from house to house. But his health won’t allow that.

“Due to the injuries we sustained during the military attack on us, we still carry bullet fragments in our bodies, and there is no way we can meet up with all the victims and the survivors of the brutal military onslaught against us in December 2015,” he added.

Zakzaky then prayed to Almighty Allah to give the families of the martyrs the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses they suffered and prayed that Allah accept the martyrdom of those killed.

One of the bereaved, Isa Waziri Gwantu, said he lost four of his children during the Zaria incident.

Gwantu, however, thanked El-Zakzaky for inviting them to meet him in such a difficult circumstance.

He pledged his loyalty to the leader and his movement and reiterated their resolve to never abandon the right path being championed by the sheikh.

Another bereaved parent, Hajiya Jummai Karofi, said she lost five children.

“I would like the killers of my children to know that what they did to them would never scare us away from Sheikh Zakzaky and the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, in fact, they are ready to pay the ultimate sacrifice in defense of Islam,” she said.

A Kaduna State High Court acquitted El-Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat, on July 28, 2021, after about six years of facing trial on eight counts charges bordering on alleged criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide.