The members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) have taken the Federal Government to court over the proscription of their group, saying the action is a violation of their constitutional rights to worship and freedom of association. The decision came on the heels of a Kaduna High Court ruling, which on Monday granted leave to IMN Leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah, to travel to India for medical treatment.
The duo has been in the custody of the Department of State Services since 2015, following a clash in Zaria, Kaduna State, between the sect and the Nigerian Army. In a motion on notice filed by the group at the Abuja Federal High Court, the applicant wants an order setting aside, discharging or vacating the ex parte order of the court made on July 26, 2019, which gave the government power to proscribe the sect.
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In the case (No: FHC/ABJ/CS/876/2019) between IMN and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) as respondent, the Islamic group sought to quash the order “of this honorable court restraining any person or group of persons from participating in any manner whatsoever in any form of activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intention or otherwise of the respondent/applicant under any other name or platform howsoever called or described in any part of Nigeria.”
The Shiites group contended that the order was made without jurisdiction and also made against a non-juristic body. It pointed out that the court, pursuant to an ex parte application brought by the applicant/respondent, made an order, inter alia, “proscribing the existence and activities of the respondent/applicant in any part of Nigeria under whatever form, either in groups or as individuals by whatever names they are called or referred to without affording the respondent/applicant the right of fair hearing.”