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Sola Ojo, Kaduna
As the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife, Meenat, departed Nigeria for India on a medical trip, some residents of Kaduna have expressed happiness over the turn of events.
Some of the residents, who claimed to be aware of the medical bail granted the IMN leader by a Kaduna High Court last week Monday said, they were a bit relieved because the development would check the constant protests by IMN members which were becoming violent lately.
A Kaduna-based businessman, Aliyu Yahaya said: “Since the IMN crisis started in 2015, we have witnessed a series of protests especially here in Kaduna.
“I have businesses along Kano Road and inside Chechenia market. But, any day they plan a protest, we have to shut our shops. We just must because once they come around, they would be throwing stones at us.
“We are happy that, that is becoming history and we hope that both parties would find a better way to resolve this El-Zakzaky issue. He’s temporary release is a big relief to us,” said Aliyu.
Another resident, who spoke to our correspondent, called on the government to have a way of settling with IMN out of court.
According to him, “the innocent people the government claims to be protecting are at the same time suffering these people’s endless protest. IMN has become so popular than even before 2015 to the extent that whenever his case was coming up, many of us don’t even border to go out on such days. For how long do we continue like this? he asked.
Meanwhile, El-Zakzaky’s followers said, although they were fairly relieved about his travel for medical reasons, they would continue with the struggle.
Dr. Shuaibu Musa, a strong member of IMN in Kaduna told our correspondent on Monday that, the IMN leader and his wife were traveling to India on Emirate Air in the company with some officials of the Department of State Security (DSS) and family members.
