Why we haven’t released El-Zakzakky – Presidency

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, says the Presidency has refused to obey Justice Gabriel Kolawole’s ruling, ordering  the  release of the leader of the
Islamic Movement of Nigeria,  Ibraheem El-Zakzakky, because it appealed the ruling.

Adesina said this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday. He said,

“I know that the immediate past AGF in whose purview it was to make pronouncements on that, addressed the issue. If bail is granted and another case subsists, and there is an immediate filing of an appeal, you have to wait till it is dispensed with. So, that is a legal matter which is outside my purview, but as a layman, an unlearned man as lawyers would call us, we know that until all cases are dispensed with, you don’t say that  they  have  been concluded.”


Adesina said the matter had since been taken before a court in Kaduna State and the bail hearing would come up on Monday.

He, therefore, called on the sect to wait for the court to make its ruling.

Responding to allegations that the police  should  not  have fired live bullets  at   the group which was  protesting against the continued detention of their leader in Abuja on Monday, the spokesman said the police deserved  commendation, adding that the death toll would have been higher if the force did not demonstrate  restraint.