• ‘I can’t sleep, walk well’
The wife of Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), popularly called the Shi’ites), Mallama Zeenah El-Zakzaky, has said she has been living in pains as a result of the bullets lodged in her stomach.
Zeenah was shot alongside her husband in Zaria, Kaduna State, on December 14, 2015, by some military officers.
Speaking on Saturday at the international Qudus conference and exhibition in Abuja, Zeenah said she had been having cramps in her belly, which has made life difficult for her.
In an emotion-laden voice while addressing members of the movement, she said: “I know we are living because Allah wants us to live. You know I have bullets in my stomach and they are giving me terrible cramps. When I say terrible cramps, in fact, I always think I am going to die beautiful.
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“I cannot sit down, I cannot walk. Whatever I do, the cramps continue. As you can see now, I am using a wheelchair; even in the room or from my bed to the toilet. I can’t stand on my legs because all of the cartilage is gone.
“For Sheikh, his own condition is even worse because he has more than 42 bullet fragments in his body, according to the doctors. He has in the skull and eyes.”
Zeenah accused the Federal Government of deliberately making life miserable and difficult for her family by refusing to return their passports and other travel documents.
The Shi’ite leader’s wife expressed displeasure at the way the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) had been tossing them around over their passports, despite a court judgment acquitting and discharging them of the charges levelled against them by the government.
She said: “After coming out of the court, the DSS said the passports were with the NIA and, the NIA, through a source, said the passports are with them. But they continue to play with our intelligence. We understand that they are not going to give them to us.”