AS the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, inaugurates Judicial Panel to investigate the recent bloody clash between soldiers and Shiite group in Zaria, members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has said that they would not appear before the judicial body unless their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky is released.

El-Rufai conducted the oath taking exercise for the members of thepanel, asking them to discharge their duty honestly.
Soldiers and Shiite members engaged in bloody clash in Zaria last December, which led to the death of the latter.
The Governor said: “We are here today to perform a solemn duty, to kick start the work of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the 12-14 December 2015 clashes in Zaria.

“As you are aware, lives were lost and property were destroyed during the tragic clashes between the group known as the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and a detachment of the Nigerian Army”. According to the governor, the state government deems it right and proper to inquire into the incidents for reasons of accountability and transparency.

“This will allow all parties to state their case and afford the public a fair and accurate accounting of the events,” he said.
The government is of the firm belief that such an authoritative account would assign administrative and criminal responsibility where due, the governor said.

“Inquiry will hopefully enable government and society to understand the historical background, and the culture and practices that are relevant in providing context to the regrettable events,” he added.

Meanwhile, while responding to the setting up of the panel, the spokesman of the Shiites, Mallam Ibrahim Musa told The Guardian that setting up a panel makes a little legal sense because the state government is a culprit in whatever that happened that day.

Musa recounted that, “On that fateful Saturday during the incident, the State Governor, Mallam El-Rufai, was there at the Islamic Centre and the soldiers started firing.

“At that moment we thought he, as the chief security of the state, has the right to stop the carnage, but immediately he left, the soldiers shot the brothers and sisters of the Movement. They did not stop there; they went to Sheikh El-Zakzaky’s residence and killed almost all the people they found there. After the killings, the state government asked the Kaduna State Property Development Authority (KAPSUDA) to demolish the Sheikh’s house, and even the rubbles were carted away.”