TheCable

Shehu Sani,a former senator, says the federal government will be held responsible if anything happens to Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

El-Zakzaky and Zeenat, his wife, both facing trial before a high court in Kaduna state, travelled to India on medical leave.

But shortly after visiting the Asian country, the Islamic leader lamented over his condition, saying the situation in India was worse than in Nigeria. He also refused treatment by doctors different from the ones he had booked an appointment with.

Speaking on an Arise TV programme on Thursday, Sani urged the government to allow El-Zakzaky’s doctors to take care of him, warning of the implication of other doctors attending to him.

He said the government should only be concerned with providing security for the IMN leader and his wife while he is left to sort out his medical needs.

“My advice will be to keep a tab on him while allowing his doctors to attend to him. Because in a situation like this involving life and death, whatever happens, if it is not his preferred medical personnel, the government will be blamed,” Sani said.

“If the Sheikh is sick and says, this is the person that should attend to me, allow that person to attend to him. And make it public that we have taken him to his own doctors.

“But with this insistence that it has to be our doctor and our own hospital, they are getting themselves into trouble.”

The former senator said from his experience as a “political prisoner”, whatever happens to a detainee is squarely on the head of those holding him or her.

“In a situation where there is a demand that he should leave the country, they know very well that if anything bad happens to El-Zakzaky, they will be the ones to be blamed,” he added.

“If it is the medical personnel from the side of the government that continues to oversee his health, then the government should be ready to take the blame of whatever that happens to me. But if it is his own medical personnel, then the government will be exonerated from whatever that happens to him.”

El-Zakzaky and his wife are on their way back to Nigeria after the “medical stalemate” in India.