In follow up to Shiite-Police clash which poses a threat to the peace of the National Assembly complex and Nigeria at large, the Members of the House of Representative has yesterday urged the federal government to obey existing court order over the detained leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim El-Zakzaky to ease the unending protest by the group.
The lawmakers also frown and condemned the invasion of the National Assembly complex by the Shiite group, which led to the loss of life and destruction of properties.
This followed a unanimous adoption of a motion brought under matters of urgent national importance by the House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta).
Elumelu expressed worry over increasing violence by the Shiite group who have been protesting Zakzaky’s continued detention by the federal government.
However, other lawmakers said there was the urgent need to address “the root cause” of the protests, which they identified as the continued detention of Zakzaky, while others called for a holistic review of the nation’s security architecture.
Others were of the opinion that that similar circumstances led to the emergence and subsequent metamorphosis of Boko Haram, into a dreaded monster that has continued to terrorized Nigerians hence there is the need for caution.
Onofiok Luke (PDP, Akwa Ibom) said it was unfortunate that while the lawmakers were empowered to make laws, the federal government was going against same through its disobedience to the court orders where he opined that the IMN leader should be let go.
In a similar manner, Simon Davou (APC, Plateau), said rather than continued detention of Zakzaky against court orders, the federal government should let him go“ subsequently ensure surveillance, with enough security operatives to monitor his activities.”
Zakzaky was arrested in 2015 after the group clashed with a convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Yusuf Buratai, in Kaduna State. Consequently, there have been several court orders granting him bail, but the federal government has failed to comply.
Zakzaky is facing charges of culpable homicide and unlawful assembly, among others.