In a rare proof of life optics in Abuja Saturday, the leader of the Shiite group in Nigeria, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, flanked by his wife, Zeenah, has been presented to journalists in Abuja. He says he is alive and has been seeing doctors, contrary to rumours he has passed on.
Wearing a neck brace over a white-coloured gown and a turban, the Islamic scholar of a sect with roots in Iran, despised by the mainstream Sunni sect, thanked Nigerians for their prayers.
He confirmed that for the first time he was allowed to see his own doctors after he resisted seeing government doctors, following a recent health challenge.
He was clamped into detention, along with his wife, over security concerns after the Army stormed his compond in Zaria town, Kaduna State.
Earlier, hundreds of members of the group were gunned down after a face-off with the Army.
Some of the sect’s members had attempted to stop the convoy of the Army Chief, Tukur Buratai, as he proceeded to Army Depot in Zaria. When persuation failed to break the impasse, soldiers opened fire on them and cleared the way for Buratai.