On December 12, last year, troops attached to chief of army staff Lt General Tukur Buratai's security detail opened fire on members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria Shiite sect in Zaria after they refused to let him pass along a highway to a function. Dozens of the sect's members are believed to have died in the attack and its leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky has since been remanded in custody over the incident.
Widely condemned as high handed, the incident has been described as an abuse of human rights, prompting the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to open an enquiry into the clash. Since then, the Kaduna State government has filed a five-count charge against the members of the sect before Justice David Wyom at the state high court.
It accused them of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, culpable homicide, disturbance of public peace and wrongful restrain. In the petition, counsel to the state government, Bayero Diri, said the offences are punishable under Sections 97, 221, 102, 106 and 225 of the Penal Code Law, Laws of Kaduna State 1991.
He alleged that the suspects, among other things, shot dead one Corporal Yakubu Dankaduna of the Nigerian Army with a gun when he alighted from the convoy to disperse the Shiite members. Section 102 of the penal code prescribes death sentence for such offence.
At the ongoing trial, the prosecution told the court that they intend to present 39 witnesses and the judge adjourned sitting till May 16. So far, the government has arraigned 50 suspects who are among the 265 persons currently in custody, after being arrested during the Shiites clash with the Nigerian Army on December 12 and 14, 2015.
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