Secret trial of Sheikh El-Zakzaky, wife adjourn until next year’

By Gabriel Udeh, Kaduna

The trial of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife which began on Wednesday at the Kaduna State High Court has been adjourned until next year, 25 and 26 Junuary, 2021.

The new date was fixed following the admission of six witnesses tendered by the prosecution counsel led by Mr Dari Bayero on Thursday in kaduna high Court sitting in kaduna.
The State presented two Army officers who testified in secret before Justice Gideon Kurada of the Kaduna High Court on Wednesday, while a Director from state security services, DSS, was among the four witnesses that were admitted today, the others were residents of Gyallesu where the Sheikh lived before the army’s attack in December, 2015.

Though the testimony was given in secret, the officers and other witnesses were put under cross-examination and they gave evidence of the operation that lasted between the 12th and the 14th of December 2015.
Mr Dari Bayero promised the court to bring the remaining witnesses including a GOC when the hearing resumes next year.

The Kaduna State Government charged Sheikh Zakzaky and Zeenah with eight counts bordering on alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of the public peace among other charges, to which they both pleaded not guilty on Sept. 29.

The two months adjournment is however of great concern to members of the Islamic Movement considering the deteriorating health of the Sheikh and his wife.