The Kaduna state government has given
conditions that must be fulfilled before it will allow the leader of the
Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El Zakzaky and his wife,
Zeenat to travel to India for medical treatment.
In a statement
issued in Kaduna Wednesday evening,the state commissioner for Internal
Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan said though the state
government will appeal the ruling of the Kaduna high court ruling
allowing El Zakzaky to travel to India for treatment, it will not seek a
stay of execution because it believes that people should have access to
treatment.
Kaduna state government is prosecuting El Zakzaky and
his wife on an eight-count charge, including culpable homicide
punishable with death.
THE TEXT OF THE STATEMENT
Kaduna State Government Statement on the El-Zakzaky Trial
Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky is facing criminal trial before the Kaduna High Court on charges filed in April 2018. The
Kaduna State Government is prosecuting Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky on an
eight-count charge, including culpable homicide punishable with death.
He and his wife are the first and second defendants in The State versus
Malam Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and Another (charge no. KDH/KAD/60c/2018), and
his plea was taken on 2nd August 2018.
His application for bail
was refused on 4th October 2018, and he has since remained in the lawful
custody of the state, and not in unlawful detention as being wrongly
disseminated. On Monday, 5th August 2019, the Kaduna High Court granted
an application for medical leave filed by Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife,
Mrs. Zeenah Ibrahim.
The court specifically said it was granting
the two defendants “leave to travel out of Nigeria for urgent medical
treatment at Medanta Hospital, India, under strict supervision of the
Respondent and to return to Nigeria (for continuation of trial) as soon
as they are discharged from the hospital”.
The Kaduna State
Government respects the right of anyone to seek treatment anywhere in
the world, even for malaria or common cold, so long as they are paying
for it. But in the case of persons facing trial for serious offenses,
necessary safeguards are required to ensure that such persons do not
become fugitives from justice or frustrate trial by claiming asylum or
the status of political prisoner in the host country.
In
compliance with the court ruling, the Kaduna State Government has filed
at the Kaduna High Court terms for strict supervision of the medical
leave, as follows:
1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria shall confirm the appointments of the
defendants/applicants with the Medanta Hospital, India, and undertake
all necessary diplomatic arrangements and protocols to ensure compliance
with the conditions of the medical leave.
2. Each of the
defendants/applicants shall undertake to return to Nigeria to continue
their trial as soon as they are discharged from the hospital, and shall
also be responsible for the cost of their travel, treatment and living
expenses while on their medical leave.
3. Each of the
defendants/applicants shall produce two prominent and reliable persons
as sureties, one being a first-class chief/emir of national repute and
the other a prominent person within Kaduna State who shall undertake to
produce the defendants whenever they are needed. The sureties must also
produce evidence of landed property within Kaduna State.
4. The
Federal Government of Nigeria shall obtain from the Government of India
an irrevocable guarantee that it will not entertain any application by
the defendants/applicants or any third party seeking asylum under any
guise or conferring the status of political prisoners or any other
status aside from being medical patients on the defendants/applicants
and shall also restrain the defendants/applicants from any act inimical
to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
5. Each of the
defendants/applicants shall undertake in writing, endorsed by their
Counsel, that while on medical treatment in India, they shall do nothing
to jeopardize the ongoing trial, the peace and security of Nigeria and
the laws of the Republic of India in whatever form.
6. Security
agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria shall escort the
defendants/applicants and remain with them throughout the duration of
their treatment in India and thereafter shall return with them after
their discharge from the hospital.
7. The Nigerian High
Commission in India shall undertake prior vetting and grant consent
before any visitor has access to the defendants/applicants while in the
Republic of India.
As is readily evident from the above, many of
these terms of supervision depend for their actualization on actions by
the Federal Government of Nigeria which is the sovereign power vested
with the constitutional responsibility for foreign affairs.
While
the Kaduna State Government respects the court’s ruling on medical
leave, it disagrees with the premises on which it is based. Therefore,
an appeal will be lodged on the matter, but a stay of execution will not
be sought as the state government believes that a person may choose to
travel abroad for any medical condition at his own cost.
As
stated earlier, El-Zakzaky and his wife are defendants in a criminal
case. Given the pendency of this case, the proper thing is to await its
conclusion. However, the Kaduna State Government notes that perceptions
of this case are suffused in a veritable avalanche of deliberate
falsehood, disinformation and revisionism, powered by vested interests.
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