FG: El-Zakzaky misbehaving in India… he wanted to check into a 5-star hotel

The federal government says Ibraheem el-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), wanted to check into a five-star hotel in India rather than a hospital.

A high court in Kaduna had granted him medical leave after he sought it on health grounds.

Alongside Zeenat, his wife, family members and security operatives, the IMN leader left the country on Monday evening.

But in less than 24 hours, he had started lamenting over the situation in the Asian country. His followers had initially alleged that “American agents” had connived with the federal government to frustrate his treatment.

By Wednesday, an audio where the IMN leader said the situation in India was worse than Nigeria had gone viral.

He had said he was being kept in a facility worse than the Kirikiri prison in Lagos state.

But in a statement, Grace Gekpe, permanent secretary, ministry of information, said the IMN leader had violated the terms under which the court allowed him travel.

Gekpe said he demanded to have his passport and sought free movement. She added that he wanted to receive visitors and also made a request to be checked into a 5-star hotel.

She said he had behaved so badly that the Indian authorities were willing to return him to Nigeria.

Her statement below:

The Court on 5th August, 2019 granted Sheikh Ibraheem EL-Zakzaky leave to travel to India for medical treatment. Consequently, the Government and its relevant agencies took steps to comply with the Order.

In line with the Court Order, El-Zakzaky was approved to embark on the trip with State officials and his choice to be accompanied by his aides and personal Doctors was not opposed by the government.

On 12th August, 2019, he and other members of the entourage went to India via Dubai. It is to be noted that El-Zakzaky particularly chose Medanta Hospital, India. However, on reaching Dubai, El-Zakzaky began to display ulterior motives against laid down procedures.

He requested that his passport be handed over to him but the State officials would not budge to his pressure. The situation became worse in India as he refused to subject himself to preliminary medical checks.

In addition, he demanded free movement and access to visitors of all kinds as well as requested to be allowed to check into a 5-Star Hotel instead of being admitted in the hospital. The request was refused on the ground that he came into the country for medicals and not as a tourist (more so that his Visa was issued on medical grounds and not for tourism). He also demanded that Police protection be withdrawn from him by the Indian authorities.

Against medical ethics and standard practice, he requested to nominate Doctors of his choice to join the ones tasked by Medanta Hospital to perform medical treatment on him and his wife. This created a stalemate, which the Hospital insisted that he would not dictate to it on the choice of medical personnel to carry the required medical treatment.

Frustrated by his antics, the Indian authorities have expressed willingness to return him to Nigeria with immediate effect. This is on the account that they will not allow him use their country to internationalize his group’s activities.

Against this background, the Nigerian government wishes to commend the stand of the Indian Government as well as apologize to her for the unruly behaviour of El-Zakzaky. Similarly, the attention of the public and indeed the international community is hereby drawn to these unfortunate developments.

The government also wishes to use this opportunity to affirm its readiness to undertake the prosecution of El-Zakzaky through due process if and when he is returned to the country. On this note, his foul cry that he is being held in circumstances worse than he was in Nigeria should be disregarded.