El-Zakzaky: You are writing letter to another Boko Haram sect, Rights group tells Buhari, Military
- Metuh or Charge him to Court now
Barely a month of violent clash between the soldiers in the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff ,Major- General T.Y. Brutai and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria(IMN),popularly called “Shittee” in Kaduna State, a human rights group under the aegis of Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice(CHRSJ) has warned President Muhammadu Buhari and the authority of Nigeria Military, particularly, Nigeria Army, against written a letter to another Boko Haram sect type of war for the way and manner the Nigeria authority was handling the crisis, thereby calling for unconditional and immediate release of the leader of the Shittee movement, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his over 700 followers that were arrested by the Nigeria Army during the avoidable violent clash.
The rights also called for the release of the corpse of the members that were killed by men of Nigeria Army during the clash for proper burial in line with Islamic tradition.
Similarly, it called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release the National Publicity Secretary of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Chief Olisah Metuh for lacking of any evidence against him(Metuh) on the allegation of N1.4 billion of the $2.1billion arms deals purportedly and allegedly traced to his account, but saying that if the anti-graft body has series of evidence against Metuh as being alleged by the authority of the nation, adding that they should not waste time to charge him to Court for the alleged offence.
In a statement issued and signed by the CHRSJ’s Executive Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi, Alimi Sulaiman, which a copy was made available to newsmen in Lagos on Sunday, maintained that the illegal continue detention of Metuh in the EFCC’s cell without charging him to court of competent jurisdiction, was an affront of gross violation of Metus’s fundamental human rights as stipulated in the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria , African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights ( ACHPR ) and UN International Instruments on Human rights, describing the EFCC action as illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional which was contrary to the section 36(5) of the amended 1999 Constitution that “every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty”.
Speaking further on El-Zakzaky, Comrade Sulaiman declared that the Federal Government-led by President Buhari has wrong the leader and members of the Shittee for launching avoidable attack on them during their Islamic programme which made the some Shittee members to loss their lives and as well sustained various degree of injuries.
The rights activist hinted that it would not possible for the country to witness another similar Boko Haram crisis from another Islamic group like Shittee, warning against pushing the members of the group to launch attack back against the Nigeria government under Buhari’ watch, condemning the utterances of Kaduna State government officials over the incident and doubt the objectivity of the Commission of Inquiry set up by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai led- Kaduna State government, alleging that the Commission of Inquiry was set up with sole aim of indicting the leader and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria(IMN).
However on Metuh,CHRSJ chief who saluted the uncommon courage of the Country’s main opposition spokesperson, Chief Metuh for daring the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) by refusing to write any statement under their cover in line with section 35(2) of the amended 1999 Constitution, adding that the anti-graft body should not be allowed to turn itself to Police station where the statement of the suspect was obtained and advised the EFCC to charge Metuh to Court without further delaying.
According to Sulaiman, “It will not augur well for Nigeria to experience another type of related Boko Haram war presently ravaging the North-Eastern part of the country. The harrowing experience of the Boko Haram in the country as a result of extra judicial killing of Boko Haram leader, Muhammed Yusuf. The Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari should be extremely careful and handle the present Army/Shittee clash with care, so as to avoid being escalated beyond control.
“Failure to charge the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) spokesperson, Chief Olisah Metuh to Court within the reasonable time of the law, had exposed the antics and illegality of the Economic and financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) under the government of President Muhammdu Buhari led-Federal Government. This development has shown that the present Buhari’s government is striving hard to gag the opposition in the land as a way to return the country back to the dark days of Military era where the rule of law was alien to the Country. It seems President Muhammadu Buhari is gradually descending Nigeria to the Hobbesian State of nature where life is solitary, poor, nasty, and short which against the rule of law and oppose to jungle justice of EFCC. It is general believe of democracy law as applicable in Nigeria today, is that anybody accused of a crime, is entitled to a fair trial before punishment”.
He therefore called on President Buhari to retrace his administration steps so far by ordering the unconditional release of those who were incarcerated unjustly under this government presently.
