A human rights activist and
lawyer, Femi Falana, on Wednesday, criticised the Kaduna State government over
the stringent conditions it issued with regards to the permission granted by
the court to Sheikh Ibrahim El-zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, to embark on
medical trip abroad.
The Kaduna State government had
expressed concern that El-zakzakay and his wife may seek asylum in India.
Upon this, the Governor Nasir
El-Rufai-led administration prayed the court to make El-Zakzaky, his wife and
each of the other defendants produce two prominent sureties, including a
first-class chief or emir to qualify for the foreign medical trip.
The government, which expressed
its displeasure at the terms of the medical leave, added, that “While the
Kaduna State government respects the court’s ruling on medical leave, it
disagrees with the premises on which it is based.
“Therefore, an appeal will be lodged
on the matter, but a stay of execution will not be sought as the state
government believes that a person may choose to travel abroad for any medical
condition at his own cost.”
But responding on Wednesday,
rights activist and lawyer to the IMN leader, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) said in a
statement: “I thought that the Kaduna State government had planned to appeal
against the order of the Honourable Darius Khobo granting leave to the
El-Zakzakys to travel to India for urgent medical treatment under the supervision
of the government.
“I hope that the plan to pursue
an appeal in the case has been shelved as the Court of Appeal has ruled that
you cannot stay the execution of orders of this nature. That remains the
position of the law as espoused in the case of Mowarin v Nigerian Army, which
was decided under a military dictatorship in the country.
“The so-called agreement is
totally alien to the penal code and the administration of criminal justice law
of Kaduna State. Hence, the agreement is not brought under any substantive or
adjectival law.
“My colleagues in the Ministry of
Justice are not unaware of the position of the law that an agreement cannot
vary or modify the order of a competent court. It is unfortunate that some
highly placed public officers are so hell bent on abrogating the fundamental
rights which have been fought for and won by Nigerians, even under the British
colonial regime.
“For instance, the Prison
Ordinance was amended in 1917 to allow the family members or friends of prison
inmates to remove them from prison and take them out for medical treatment, if
the prison facilities could not cater for any terminal illness. That provision
has been incorporated in Regulation 12 made pursuant to the Prisons Act.
“In this instant case, the court
did not release the El-Zakzakys to their family members but that they should be
treated in a foreign hospital under the supervision of the government.
“Since the Department of Service
Services (DSS), which has the custody of the El-Zakzakys, has announced on behalf
of the Federal Government that the court order would be obeyed, the so-called
terms of “agreements” of the Kaduna State government should be ignored because
it is the height of provocative contempt.
“It takes two to tango. A party
in a case cannot dream of some weird ideas, parade them as an agreement and
impose same on a court and the other parties.”
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