FOR the umpteenth time, Lagos lawyer and human rights crusader, Femi Falana, has demanded the immediate release of his clients, Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky and his wife, Zainab, from detention of the State Security Service (SSS).
His fresh call was contained in a letter to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, dated June 2.
He also desired that public officers who had spoken against the release of the duo despite valid and subsisting conditional bail granted them by various courts, be punished by the acting president.
Though names were not mentioned by Falana, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu and Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, are two most-pronounced voices backing the continued disobedience of the court orders by the Federal Government.
In a paragraph reference, he equally backed the demand for the release of the immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, while casting the public officers kicking against the detainee’s freedom as “dangerous.”
Dasuki is being held by the SSS for close to two years for alleged corruption and gun-running.
Like el-Zakzaky and wife, he had also been granted conditional bail by competent courts.
Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay, had also called for the release of the duo, urging his employer to obey valid court orders.
While Shehu claimed that the Islamic cleric and wife were still in detention by choice, the Information minister, also a lawyer, said the detainees could not be released in the interest of national security.
Both had come under severe public attacks and condemnation.
According to Falana’s letter, “We are Solicitors to Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeinab, who are currently detained illegally in an undisclosed detention dungeon at Abuja by the State Security Service. On behalf of our clients, we are compelled to draw Your Excellency’s attention to the following facts:
“On December 12, 2015, the Nigerian Army unleashed unmitigated violence on the Shia Community in Zaria, Kaduna State, under the pretext that there was a plot to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff, General Yussuf Buratai. During the violent attack, the Army massacred 347 Shi’ites, including women and children.
“Aided by the Kaduna State government, the Nigerian Army secretly buried the bodies of the victims of the barbaric attack in an unmarked grave without any autopsy whatsoever. Up till now, the bereaved families of the deceased have not been officially informed of the extrajudicial execution of their loved ones.
“Although Sheikh el-Zakzaky was not at the scene of the violent attack, the official assailants invaded his residence at Zaria, set the house ablaze, shot at him and his wife and killed three of his children. Thereafter, the Kaduna State government proceeded to demolish the burnt house and, thereby, rendered all the occupants homeless.”
and then