Security tightens in Kaduna as El-Zakzaky, Wife return to court

The Kaduna State government tightened security in the state as the prosecution of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim El- Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat, resumed at Kaduna State High Court on Monday.  El-Zakzaky and his wife were conveyed to the court surrounded by security operatives.

El-Zakzaky and his wife are being prosecuted by the Kaduna State government on eight count charges of culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace, criminal conspiracy, among others.

Before the arrival of El-Zakzaky and his wife in court, security was tightened around Kaduna.

It was gathered that security operatives cordoned off all major roads leading to the court complex and the court premises. Security operatives were alert to prevent breakdown of law and order, or spillover of the violent protests by the Shi’ite Muslims in Abuja and other parts of the north.

Their arraignment today comes about three weeks after the last hearing of the suit against them on February 6, after the case was adjourned for eight months.

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Report indicated that the trial judge, Justice Gideon Kurada, had amended the charges against the defendants from four people to two and excluded two other accused persons who are still at large, to enable the trial of El-Zakzaky and his wife commence without delay.

The judge further ordered that the defendants should be allowed to be seen by their private doctors at the Nigerian Correctional Service facility in Kaduna, Kaduna State, with close supervision of the facility management.

The judge, thereafter, adjourned the case until February 24 and 25 for accelerated hearing.

The IMN leader and his wife have been in detention since their arrest in December 2015 after a clash between the Shiites and soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State.

Justice Hajaratu Gwadah had last Friday discharged and acquitted 91 IMN members who have been in detention for four years. The judge held that the prosecutor was unable to prove its allegations against the defendants beyond a reasonable doubt.