It is now getting to eight months since Sheikh Zakzaky (H) and wife, Zeenah Ibraheem, were discharged and acquitted by a Kaduna high court of all the criminal charges labeled against them after spending almost six years in illegal detention.
One would have thought that it will be a matter of days or couple month at most for the duo to jet out of the country to attend to their health that seriously deteriorated in the course of their stay in detention which a federal high vourt in Abuja ab initio ruled ‘unconstitutional’.
The Kaduna high court in passing its judgement made it categorically clear that the couple were not only innocent thus discharged and acquitted, but are also entitled to total freedom like every other citizen as enshrined in the constitution of the country, including, among others, the right to attend to their health in a place of their choice.
But the Nigerian government in a show of contempt to a court of competent jurisdiction, continued its systemic persecution on the ailing couple this time by withholding their travel documents in a bid to frustrate their quest for proper medical attention.
The National Intelligence Agency, NIA, and the Nigerian Intelligence Service, NIS, initially denied withholding the couple’s travel documents, but later admitted that they were lost. The office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, AGF, went as far as claiming that the duo are not suffering from any life-threatening condition that warrants overseas treatment.
When and how did the highly controversial AGF become a diagnostician, capable of triaging what ailments should or not be attended in the country, remain a mystery.
It is worth noting that Sheikh Zakzaky (H) and his wife are still suffering from various life-threatening health problems as evidenced by series of investigations result done recently, after their release from detention, at both public and private health facilities.
Of greatest concern is the sheikh’s lead and mercury poisoning which is yet to be addressed, notwithstanding the dangerous serum level. The story is no different for his wife, Zeenah Ibraheem, who has been confined to the wheelchair for almost six years now.
Nevertheless, the government turned a blind eye to the continued suffering and right infringement of the couple as though they are not citizens of the country or still under trial.
The same government officials that jet out of the country to seek medical attention for ailments as trivial as ear infection, often wasting taxpayers’ money, have no right, whatsoever, to dictate to other citizens of the country what sort of ailments should or not be treated in (or outside) the country.
Perhaps, even more important is that this right infringement should not be happening in a society that is considered so-called model of democracy in Africa. To say this is an insult to democracy is an understatement.
The couple have suffered enough already: six of their biological children killed extrajudicially, over a thousand of the Sheikh’s followers killed and dumped in mass grave, their home demolished and property stolen, unjustifiably usurped of freedom for almost six years, and the list goes on.
As a moral obligation, people of conscience, clergies and statesmen are please urged to demand the government allow the Sheikh (H) and his wife attend to their health, as the saying goes, injustice to one is injustice to all.
Najeeb Maigatari,
Dutse, Jigawa state
[email protected]
