A Kaduna State High Court has again adjourned the resumed trial of the embattled leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat.
A new date of February the 24th and 25th was fixed by the trial judge, Justice Gideon Kurada during the hearing of the suit on Thursday.
At the resumed hearing, Justice Kurada also amended the charges against the defendants from four people to two and excluded two other accused persons who are still at large to enable the trial of the IMN leader and his wife to commence without delay.
He ordered that the defendants should be allowed to be seen by their private doctors at the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) facility in the Kaduna State capital with close supervision of the facility management.
Counsel to El-Zakzaky, Femi Falana, however, lamented over the incessant adjournment of the case. He noted that this is affecting the health and comfort of his clients.
Although both defendants were not in court during today’s sitting, security was however beefed up in the Kaduna State as all major roads leading to the Kaduna State High Court Complex were cordoned off by security operatives.
Security was also beefed up at the court premises, to avert breakdown of law and order, especially with the violent protests by IMN members.
El-Zakzaky and his wife are facing eight counts by the Kaduna State Government over allegations of culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, and disruption of the public peace, among others.
The IMN leader and his wife have been in detention since their arrest in December 2015 following a bloody clash between his members and soldiers in Zaria Kaduna State.
During the last court sitting on December the 5th, 2019, the presiding Judge, Justice Gideon Kurada ordered the Department of State Security Service (DSS) to transfer the IMN leader and his wife to the detention facility of the Nigerian Correctional Service in Kaduna state, in order to allow their lawyers have easy access to them.
