Shiites flay police for allegedly denying detained protesters food, treatment
• Free El-zakzaky demonstrations will continue, says group
THE Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has alleged that the Police high command ha ve denied food and treatment to 115 arrested members who protested against the continued detention of Sheikh Ibraheem El-zakzak y in Abuja.
The group, otherwise known as Shiites, insisted that its members would not relent in their demand for the release of ailing ElZakzaky from detention. It added that the arrested protesters in police custody were denied the freedom to observe the five daily prayers mandator y for Muslims.
In a statement yesterday in Kaduna by its spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, he said: “After their arrest, some of their relatives visited the detainees at the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) headquarters in Abuja, carrying food items to them, but they were denied access.
“When they enquired why they were being refused food and medical treatment, the Police officers told them that it was an order from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris and the FCT Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Bello.”
Musa said even the food items taken to the detainees, among whom are 15 women and underage children, were not served to them yesterday, adding it seems the police officers were using hunger to torture them, which was against international law and practice.
“A lawyer contacted on the issue who pleaded anonymity has confided to us that there was no law in the country that empowers the IGP and his officers to deny detainees food, unless they want them to die of hunger,” he added.
Musa further argued that stopping the detainees from observing their prayers was the height of depravity, saying the Nigeria Police should explain to the world their source of authority for doing so.
“We wish to reaffirm our stand and demand that our leader Sheikh El-zakzaky should be released from the illegal detention,” he state d .
Meanhwile, members of the free El Zakzaky movement, which has been holding at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, yesterday said they remained resolute and would continue the protests until their leader was released.
Their resolve followed after more than 80 days of peaceful protest and sitouts, most of which had turned violent
HUMAN rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has said that past and present administrations of President Muhammadu Buhari were responsible for the country pitiable economic condition and sociopolitical woes.
Besides, Ozekhome, who presented a detailed analysis of how corruption, money laundering and insecurity have destroyed the nation’s economic potentials among the comity of nations, said the challenges have worsened under the Buhari administration.
He added that something should be done urgently to rescue the nation from total collapse.
He spoke at the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Barnawa, Kaduna Branch Law week in a keynote address, while urging patriotic legal practitioners and other Nigerians to join hands together in salvaging Nigeria from corruption, insecurity and money laundering that are threatening the survival of Nigeria as a country.
Ozekhome said: “It is embarrassingly painful to be told that your country is corrupt—worse still, that your culture enables or even approves corruption. Around the world, people talk about corrupt cultures, implying a predisposition for a group of people to behave in corrupt ways and perhaps leading to the conclusion that fighting corruption entails cultural change.
“Corruption is eating deep into the fabric of Nigeria. It has defied every attempt at eradicating it. The level of criminal activities spurred by corruption and witnessed in the country is on a geometrical ascendance.”
He also argued that nepotism has sustained a culture of mediocrity, gross incompetence and inefficiency in public and civil service, pointing out that this culture has been enthroned at the expense of other prudent, resourceful and competent Nigerians who epitomize the ideal opposite of what corruption stands for.
“It is very difficult to find an institution in Nigeria today that is exempted from this malaise. As a result of this, Nigeria has been enmeshed in a pool of degradation and scorn,” he stated.