The Federal Government has commenced negotiations with the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, over their demand for the release of their detained leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky who has been held in security custody since 2015, a source has claimed.<\/p>\n
This development was confirmed\u00a0 on Thursday by a source within the top hierarchy of IMN in Abuja.<\/p>\n
According to the source, the Federal Government has issued approval to mediators drawn from members of the diplomatic corps to meet with Sheikh El-Zakzaky with a view to resolving the impasse between the Muslim group and the Nigerian authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some negotiations going on behind the scenes through the intervention of some European countries who are interested in seeing the face-off between our group and the government resolved through dialogue.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers of the diplomatic corps here in Abuja have been working right round the clock to make resolving this matter a possibility. We have started interacting with the government in the background.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government, though reluctantly, has given some of the mediators in the matter concerning our movement necessary approval to meet with Sheikh El-Zakzaky so that progress can be made.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is been persuaded to see reasons to stop the persecution of Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his followers,\u201d the source told our correspondent.<\/p>\n
DAILY POST reports that Sheikh El-Zakzaky, who is in his mid-sixties, lost his left eye when security forces raided his home in Zaria Kaduna state more than three years ago.<\/p>\n
The raid started after Shi\u2019ites had a clash with the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen Tukur Buratai, during a procession on the streets of Kaduna.<\/p>\n
His wife also sustained serious wounds while more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons were killed in the violence that ensued.<\/p>\n
The cleric has been kept in custody along with his wife and a large number of his followers ever since.<\/p>\n
El-Zakzky\u2019s followers have been holding protests mainly in Abuja since 2015, calling for his immediate release.<\/p>\n
The Government is yet to confirm such negotiation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government has commenced negotiations with the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, over their demand for the release of their detained leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky who has been held in security custody since 2015, a source has claimed. This development was confirmed\u00a0 on Thursday by a source within the top hierarchy of IMN in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":3140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,14],"tags":[347,97,204,587],"class_list":["post-13320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-abuja","tag-buhari","tag-government","tag-ibraheem-el-zakzaky"],"yoast_head":"\n