Centre Backs Kaduna Govt’s Decision To Appeal Release Of 91 Shiite Members

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre (SHAC) has backed the Kaduna State Government’s resolve to appeal the release of 91 members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) by a Federal High Court.

Justice Hajaratu Gwada of a Kaduna High Court on Friday discharged and acquitted 91 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shiites who has been in prison since 2015.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, the state government vowed to appeal the acquittal of the defendants in the State versus Mahdi Munkaila and 91 others, one of the cases arising from the Zaria clashes of December 2015.

The Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Aisha Dikko lamented that, ‘’a total of 36 witnesses were called including senior military officers who were with the Chief of Army Staff at the scene of the crime, Senior Police Officers, a Consultant Pathologist, Ballisticians and victims of the crime with 106 exhibits tendered”.

The SHAC in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Joyce Ogwu, said the Centre reasoned that the acquittal is a dangerous precedence.

“The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre wishes to charge the Kaduna State government to appeal the judgement as quickly as possible to ensure that the threats which the IMN constitute to the society is not allowed to graduate into a monster,” the centre noted.

The centre urged the Kaduna state government not to relent towards ensuring that this anomaly is reversed by a higher and competent court of jurisdiction.
-Daily Trust