Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, has revealed how he escaped an assassination attempt on his life when their Zaria home was raided. The outspoken cleric said although he and his wife survived the assassination attempt, they still live with shrapnel in some parts of their bodies which doctors overseas said could be removed.
Soldiers from 1 Division Nigerian Army in December 2015 raided Zakzaky’s home and arrested him and his wife, a day after followers of Zakzaky blocked the convoy of the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai on their way to Depot Nigerian Army for a function.
Zakzaky who claimed that his leg was broken and damaged bones were seen by those who rescued him after the “assassination attempt ” in Zaria Kaduna State, explained that it was by the miracle of Almighty Allah that his leg and damaged eye were healed.
The Shi’ite group leader spoke in an interview with the Hausa Service of the BBC, which was monitored by our correspondent in Kaduna.
He said he was still hopeful of going back to Zaria and rebuilding his former religious complex that was pulled down.
According to him, attempts to get his international passport and that of his wife so that they could travel out and get the required medical attention, were allegedly frustrated by the authorities.
“When they came to kill us, intense fire power made us hide in a room that was used as a laundry. But they announced that if we don’t come out, they will set fire on the house so I decided it would be better if I went and they shot me than to be burnt alive.
“They killed my children and many others. They shot me and my wife….I was later taken to a medical facility in Zaria, 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna and then to Abuja.
“I survived only by the will of Allah.This my eye was affected when bullets flew past but it is healing by the will of Allah,” he said.
He however appealed for his passport and that of his wife to be released so that they could be able to access medical treatment abroad.