The High Court of Justice in Kaduna State will hear the motion put forward by Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) asking for the dismissal of the case against him by the government over its failure to produce evidence on Friday 7th August.
Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, have been detained by the Government since 2015 following his confrontation with the Nigerian Army.
Femi Falana (SAN), legal counsel to the IMN leader had asked the court to quash the charges preferred against El-Zakzaky by the Nigerian Government for not “disclosing an offence known to law contrary to Section 36 (8) and (12) of the 1999 constitution as amended.”
The Court supposed to hear the case last week Thursday but unfortunately, the Federal Government declared the day as Public holiday to enable the Muslim community to celebrate the annual Sallah.
In the hearing notice, the court asked both parties to bring their evidence supporting “his own case or contradicting that of the opponent.”
The initial motion by El-Zakzaky’s lawyers 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 charges 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 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.”
Falana seeks the order of the honourable court to quash all the charges for failure to link the defendants to the offences purportedly charged from the statements of the witnesses.
Falana also asked the court to free his client, who has suffered numerous health challenges as a result of his incarceration.
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