From Paul Orude, Bauchi
As the face-off between Governor Bala Mohammed and fiery Islamic scholar, Imam Dr. Idris Abdulazeez rages, a group, Jama’atu Shababil Islam, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to enforce law and order as regards the legal tussle between the two.
This was disclosed by Muhammad Sani Adam, the State Public Relation Officer while addressing a press conference in Bauchi on Thursday.
They emphasised the call on the IGP to intervene toward the defence of the rule of law against “a brazen negation of the principle of the process and rule of law by the judge Tanimu Turaki of the Sharia Court I, Bauchi”
“It is part of our responsibility of ensuring peaceful coexistence amongst the good people of Bauchi State and the country at large and indeed above all the struggle to safeguard fundamental human right of our revered scholar (Dr. Idris Abdulazeez),” Adam said in a statement.
He disclosed that the association had taken several legal steps to bring the matter to an end including addressing a press conference May 7, 2023 where they called on the different stakeholders in the matter, including the state government, the police and all the sects of Ulamas to proffer solutions and way forward
“We wrote a petition to the National Judicial Council (NIC) on the matter on May 24, 2023,” he revealed.
“As the matter continue to linger with and obvious signs of the use of extra Judicial powers, we wrote an open letter to Mr. President on November 13, 2023
“As if the Bauchi state government is paying the Tanimu Turaki for his hatchet man job they nominated him for khadi of Sharia court and we protested against his nomination to the National Judicial Council (NIC) on 1, 2023.
“As we are eagerly waiting for the results of our petition and protest which are essentially bordered on impunity and the flagrant abuse of judicial powers by the Government and negation of the principle of due process and rule of law by the Judge, then he went ahead with the matter and has been heard on 3rd January, 2024 and yesterday being Wednesday 17th January 2024.
“Part of the purported judgment of the judge yesterday was an issuance of a purported bench warrant for the police to arrest our revered scholar Imam Dr Idris Abdulazez.
“This organization understood and believes that Judiciary is the last hope of a common man but it was obvious that persistence of Judge Tanimu Turaki to continue with this matter even when the matter was appealed to a superior court is an impunity and flagrant disobedience to the rule of law.
“The Bauchi state police command and the commissioner of police needs to be commended for their neutrality throughout the matter, however, our call here is for the inspector general of police (IGP) to immediately investigate the matter and ordered the Bauchi State commissioner of police to maintain law and order as regards to the matter and continue to remain neutral.”