Today is not a very happy day for members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), popularly called Shiites, as a High Court sitting in Kaduna has denied the bail application filed by the lawyer of the leader of the movement, Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky and his wife.
Justice Gideon Kurada, who presided over the court, ruled that both accused persons did not show enough medical evidence to grant them bail in their written application.
The judge then ordered that the two accused persons should remain in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) throughout the period of their trial and adjourned the matter to January 22, 2019, for accelerated hearing.
The IMN leader is facing trial over allegations of culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, and disruption of public peace, among other charges.
He and his wife were first arraigned on May 15, 2018, over two years after their arrest in Zaria, in December 2015, after his members had a confrontation with the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, Kaduna state.
Since the arrest and detention of El-Zakzakky, his followers had organised a series of protests in some cities in the country, calling for his release.
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