April 30, 2020
The legal team of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky lead by Femi Falana, SAN, has filed a motion asking the High Court in Kaduna to drop all charges against him. The Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, have been detained by the Nigerian Government since 2015 after hundreds of his followers were killed in 3 days by the Nigerian Army in Zaria, Kaduna State. It could be recalled that a Federal High Court in Abuja had a set the leader and his wife freeduring a judgement delivered by Justice Kolawale in 2015.
In a motion filed by the human right lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), on behalf of Sheih Zakzaky asked the court to dismiss the case after the state’s failure to disclose the offences against his client. A cop of the letter was to Muhammad Ibraheem Zakzaky, son of the detained leader, and to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ministry of Justice of Kaduna, .
The motion reads, "An order of this honourable court quashing count one of the charge in its entirety for not disclosing an offence known to law contrary to Sections 36 (8) and (12) of the 1999 constitution as amended, or in the alternative, an order of this honourable court quashing count one of the charge in its entirety for being an abuse of court process and/ or devoid of proof of evidence, evincing a prima facie case or a disclosure of the offences and/ or for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses and/ or the statements of the defendants as well as the documents attached to the purported charge.
"An order of this honourable court quashing count two of the charge in its entirety for being an abuse of court process and devoid of proof of evidence or a disclosure of the offences and/ or for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses (and/ or the statements of the defendants) as well as the documents attached to the charge.
"An order of this honourable court quashing count three of the charge in its entirety for being an abuse of court process and devoid of proof of evidence or a disclosure of the offences and/or for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses and/ or the statements of the defendants as well as the documents attached to the purported charge.
"An order of this honourable court quashing count four of the charge in its entirety for being an abuse of court process and devoid of proof of evidence or a disclosure of the offence charged and/or for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses and/or the statements of the defendants as well as the documents attached to the purported charge.
"An order of this honourable court quashing count five of the charge in its entirety being an abuse of court process and devoid of proof of evidence or a disclosure of the offences charged and/or for failure to link the defendants to the offence(s) purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses and the statements and/ or the statements of the defendants as well as the documents attached to the charge.
"An order of this honourable court quashing count six of the charge in its entirety for not disclosing an offence known to law contrary to sections 36 (8) and (12) of the 1999 constitution as amended, or in the alternative, an order of this honourable court quashing count six of the charge in its entirety for being an abuse of court process and/ or devoid of proof of evidence, evincing a prima facie case or a disclosure of the offences and/or for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses and/ or the statements of the defendants as well as the documents attached to the purported charge.
"An order of this honourable court quashing count seven of the charge in its entirety for being an abuse of court process and devoid of proof of evidence or a disclosure of the offences and/or for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses and/ or the statements of the defendants as well as the documents attached to the purported charge.
"An order of this honourable court quashing count eight of the charge in its entirety for being an abuse of court process and devoid of proof of evidence disclosing a prima facie case or a disclosure of the offences and/ or for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses and/or the statements of the defendants as well as the documents attached to the purported charge."
Falana also asked the court to free his client, who has suffered numerous health issues due to injuries.