A SENIOR Advocate of Nigeria Mike Ozekhome said the Kaduna State government would lose out on fresh charges filed against the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
Ozekhome said this on Monday during an interview aired on Arise Television while speaking on the fresh charges filed against El-Zakzaky.
He said the government was using a devised plan of fresh charges against El-Zakzaky in order to keep him and his wife in custody for more years.
“I expect my friend, Femi Falana, to go to court and say it is an abuse of court process, it’s outright for acquit.”
“They cannot be tried for the same offense or offenses and if they file an appeal, they cannot file appeal simultaneously while filing a new plea. Either way, the government will lose out to El- Zakzaky,” Ozekhome said.
The ICIR had reported that fresh terrorism and treasonable felony charges were filed against El-Zakzaky.
The new charges are to be jointly prosecuted by the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Justice and the Kaduna State Government.
Ozekhome also said that El-Zakzaky was being persecuted because his ordeal in the hands of the Federal Government had left the realm of prosecution.
According to the Senior Advocate, the Nigerian government should let the poor people, the believer, the suffering people go if they would not be given food, shelter and safety.
He also advised the Nigerian government to excuse itself from religious matters as provided in Section 22 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Shouldn’t Nigerian government look at Section 10 of the Constitution and get out of religious matters to know that the state shall not be trusted in religious matters? They should get out of all these Jerusalem programmes, all these Hajj and Mecca pilgrimage,” he said.
Ozekhome argued that the Nigerian government had no business involving itself in matters of religion when there were no schools, no food to eat and no provision of shelter for many citizens.
El-Zakzaky and his wife were arraigned and detained in 2015 over eight-count charges of culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and disturbance of public peace.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94