JUST IN: DETAINED ISLAMIC CLERIC, EL-ZAKZAKY ALLEGEDLY DIES IN DETENTION? DSS REACTS TO REPORTS
JUST IN: DETAINED ISLAMIC CLERIC,
EL-ZAKZAKY ALLEGEDLY DIES IN DETENTION? DSS REACTS TO REPORTS
The
current update as in Islamic leader in the custody of Nigerian authorities, Ibrahim
Yaqoub El Zakzaky, might have died.
The
nation’s capital, Abuja, was tense for the most part of yesterday, while
military armoured tanks and heavily armed policemen patrolled the streets of
Kaduna in a show of force.
The Guardian reliably learnt the cleric might have passed
away yesterday, with the authorities hurriedly putting security measures in
place to forestall violence by his supporters and persons sympathetic to his
cause.
A
meeting of a paramilitary body in Kaduna, yesterday, was swiftly concluded with
members warned to stay indoors and not travel back to their states for fear of
a possible backlash following the rumoured death.
Followers
of the embattled cleric have for months called for his release. The
authorities, however, appeared to have had other reasons for holding him,
despite court orders granting him bail.
The
army, allegedly holding the cleric in “protective custody”, was silent on his
current fate. Calls and text messages to spokesman, Brigadier General Sani Usman
Kukasheka, at 3:18 p.m. and 3:48 p.m., yesterday, to confirm the matter were
not replied to before press time.Other security sources contacted for
confirmation also kept sealed lips.
A call
to the embassy of a notable Arab country with presumed links to the cleric did
not yield any result, as the cultural envoy was said to have travelled overseas
and was not in a position to comment.
Meanwhile,
the Department of State Service (DSS) have insisted that the health condition
of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shiites,
remains stable and good.
The
clarification by the DSS on El-Zakzaky’s health condition came on the heels of
speculations of his worsening state of health and rumours of death.
El-Zakzaky
had been held by the federal government for more than two years over what the
government said was an attempt to breach national security.
Several
court judgments calling for El-Zakzaky’s release have been rebuffed by the
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
El-Zakzaky’s
incarceration by the federal government has continued to receive knocks and
criticisms across the country.
IMN on
Wednesday staged a protest in Abuja.
Speaking
to ThisDay on the health condition of the IMN leader, a
senior DSS official said: “His health remains stable and good.”
Though
the source, who requested for anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on
the matter stressed that the rumours were far from the truth, as El-Zakzaky’s
health has not deteriorated to that level.