The leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, said soldiers have damaged his legs on the order of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The IMN leader and his wife Zeenat has spent over five years in detention before their release last year following a Kaduna State High Court ruling which acquitted the couples of the charges against them.
Expressing hope of returning to Zaria in Kaduna State sometime in future, El-Zakzaky while interacting with newsmen said President Buhari had accused him of felony and ordered military men to give him bad treatment years ago.
The Islamic scholar explained further that soldiers have damaged his thigh with bullets during the bloody event that happened in Kaduna State over five years ago.
Tracknews reports that El-Zakzaky and his wife had stood trial on eight counts of charges bordering on alleged criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide punishable with death, wrongful restraint, unlawful assembly, disruption of the public peace, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, inciting disturbance and breach of peace in 2015.
The allegations were though denied by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).
El-Zakzaky who was recalling his ordeals said, “I hope to return to Zaria at some time in the future to build on my religious activities especially.
“I am being carried since they (soldiers) damaged my left thigh and left hand. I am not saying a fracture; I mean damage.
“Four ‘soldiers’ rained gunshots at the small room we were. They were there to wipe us out. They asked me to remove my clothes; when I refused one of them said fire. And the rest opened fire on us. And in the process, the whole house was razed.”
The IMN leader reiterated that the soldiers were sent by President Buhari to attack him.
He said they were at his apartment on the order of the president who had accused him of forming a government within a government.
Tracknews recalls that trouble started with El-Zakzaky and Shiite members allegedly clashing with the then Chief of the Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai.
Some hoodlums were said to have threatened the COAS’s life after blocking his way on Sokoto Road in Zaria city.
Buratai and his entourage were said to be heading for a visit when the hoodlums blocked the way.
After much persuasions from senior officers on the entourage, the hoodlums, who were later identified as Shi’ites members, remained adamant.
Reacting inline with rules of engagement, the soldiers accompanying the COAS swung into action in an act to clear the road for the army boss and, in the course of doing that, scores of casualties were recorded, Tracknews recalls.
