Shi’ites who make up the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) have requested a court order committing Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Baba to a correctional facility for allegedly refusing to release the bodies of “Free Zakzaky” protesters who were killed by Nigeria Police personnel in July 2019.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an order calling for the imprisonment of the IGP and the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the National Hospital in Abuja for their refusal to release the bodies.
At a media briefing yesterday in Abuja, the Academic Forum of the IMN, led by Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, announced this.
Halima Aliyu, speaking on behalf of the group, noted that the current request and action by the IMN are necessary as a result of the police’s ongoing unwillingness to turn over the bodies of its members years after they were killed, in collusion with the hospital authority.
Recall that on Monday, July 22, 2019, police officers stormed a nonviolent Free-Zakzaky march and opened fire on protestors, killing 12 protesters, one unidentified person, a deputy commissioner of police, and a journalist with Channels TV. She appealed for solidarity from the public.
Three additional protestors died as a result of many more arrests, transfers to SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) facilities without food or medication, she claimed, and “again, the corpses were brought to Asokoro District Hospital,” bringing the total number of bodies there to five.
The National Hospital has so far refused to release the four bodies that were left there and the five that were left at Asokoro for proper burial, according to Aliyu, who noted that despite numerous attempts to do so.
The group bemoans the fact that the authorities have kept the corpses hidden despite the court ruling in their favor.
