The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has said a recent statement credited to the Federal Government that its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, planned to seek asylum in India before his repatriation, is campaign of calumny by the government to cover up its “gross misconduct” in a foreign land.
The Shi’ites group also accused the government of going beyond its role of supervision to giving instruction on which doctors the IMN leader and his wife could see.
It accused the government of refusing to allow them access to their own doctors.
A statement on Sunday by the President of its Media Forum, Ibrahim Musa, said El-Zakzaky was brought back to Nigeria because the government’s “evil schemes” could not be executed.
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The statement said: “Sequel to the Nigerian government’s sinister operation that frustrated the treatment of the revered Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife, Mallama Zeenat, in India, which led to the repatriation of the couple, the Nigerian government, in its effort to deceive the general public, has concocted contradictory statements and lies to colour its acts of violating the order given by the Kaduna High Court allowing the sheikh to seek treatment in India, with the government only supervising.
“The facts are that the government mischievously went beyond its role of supervision to the level of maliciously interfering in the medical process, instructing on which doctors the sheikh and his wife must see, while refusing to allow them access to their own doctors. Apparently, the government had a hidden mission, the details of which they had detailed specific doctors to execute. The sheikh was forced to either accept their choice or return home within two hours…”