El-Zakzaky is in our custody – Army

Contrary to speculations that the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife were among the casualties of the Zaria crisis, the Nigerian Army said the couple were safe and sound in their protective custody.

The General Officer Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade disclosed this while speaking to newsmen in Kaduna on Monday.

According to him, the order given to the troops was to ensure that the sect leader was taken into a safe custody and that as at 09:15hrs, he was brought into the custody with his wife and some
family members.

The GOC further said that the sect leader and his wife would soon be allowed to speak with members.

General Oyebade added that in the course of the operation, there were casualties on both sides, even though he refused to give the numbers of those involved.

Going down into the genesis of the crisis he said: “On December 12, 2015, myself and the Commissioner of Police were with President Muhammadu Buhari, who was in the state for an assignment when I received distress call that the life of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai was threatened by some hoodlums, who blocked his way on Sokoto road in Zaria city.

“After much persuasions from senior officers on the entourage, the hoodlums who were later identified as Shi’ites members remained adamant and in line with our rules of engagement, we had no option but to clear the road for the COAS and in the course of doing that, the hoodlums started throwing missiles on us; and our men responded which resulted to minimum casualties.

“From there, we received information that they had started mobilizing in one of their temples at Husainyya, the residence of the leader at Gyellesu and on Danbo road. That was on Saturday night; this lead to a long night of battle.

“We have nothing against the Shi’ites because they are all Nigerians and our duty is also to protect them. But we cannot tolerate them forming a government within a government.

“I call on all Shi’ites members to be law abiding and go about their religious activities without tampering with the freedom of others,” he said.

He noted that for some years in the past their activities had been a threat to their neighbours, stressing that every Nigerian must be law abiding citizen of the country with the right to worship within the law of the land without any molestation by anybody or group of people.