A Kaduna State High Court yesterday ordered the police to charge Sheikh Muhammad Awwal Adam Albani, a Zaria-based Islamic scholar, now in police custody, to court on or before 10 am of Monday, June 13. 4ShareThe order came as a result of a case filed at the state High Court 6 under Justice Tukur Mu’azu by the students of Sheikh Albani.In his order, Justice Mu’azu said if the police fail to present Sheikh Albani to his court on Monday, the court would have no option than to grant the cleric bail.Though the Kaduna State Commissioner of police, Ballah M. Nasarawa, has denied that Vice President Namadi Sambo was responsible for the arrest of the cleric, but Albani’s students have insisted that a top government functionary ordered the arrest of the scholar.CP Nasarawa has on Thursday told journalists that the cleric was invited for questioning based on security breaches in Kaduna State. However, Albani students said they have many evidence to prove that the order of Sheikh Albani’s arrest came from a top government functionary.“We don’t want to call anybody’s name now because we are already in court but we have evidence to prove that a top government functionary ordered for Malam’s (Albani) arrest on, purely political grounds. The arrest has nothing to do with any security breaches. I have said this before and I am going to repeat it, if Malam was arrested in respect of security breaches in Kaduna State, how many pastors have they arrested in respect to the massacre that occurred in southern Kaduna.“They are victimizing Malam and the intention was to provoke us. We thank Allah that we are not the type of people that take laws into their hands but nobody can stop us from propagating what we belief are the true teachings of Qur’an and Sunna of the Prophet. If it was not the VP who ordered Malam’s arrest, why is the CP busy defending him? I know that the VP is not the only person in government, therefore why is it that the names of President Jonathan or Governor Yakowa were not mentioned. Allah would reveal the truth for everyone to see,” Dr Abdurrafi’i Abdulganiyyi, spokesperson of the Albani students, told Weekly Trust yesterday.The arrest of Sheikh Albani has generated a lot of apprehension in the ancient city of Zaria especially among Islamic scholars. The cleric’s detention was seen by many as a direct witch-hunt of Islamic scholars who preached against the election of President Jonathan and Vice President Sambo.Sheikh Albani, according to his students, was invited by the IGP to Abuja for interrogation but was asked to report himself to the Kaduna State Police Command of the force.“He was in Abuja on the IGP’s invitation last Friday but was asked to report to the Kaduna Command on Saturday. He was detained at Kaduna since Saturday, June 4, up till today Friday (yesterday), June 10, 2011. At first, we learnt that they were accusing him of having information on the bombs that exploded before the presidential election in Kaduna city. All those arrested in connection with the bomb blast could neither recognise Malam’s voice nor his face when they were asked to do that in the midst of other people,” Dr Abdulganiyyi said.Rumours of the scholar’s arrest began to spread in Zaria on Friday, June 3, 2011, but when Sheikh Albani’s students gathered at his school (Darul Hadith) in Gaskiya layout on Saturday, June 4, for their routine weekend lessons and the scholar failed to turn up, they confirmed that their teacher was arrested.Since the post-election riot, the police in Zaria have been inviting different people for interrogation. Islamic scholars were the most affected. “Our fear is that these incessant arrests can lead to another round of crisis especially if the massacre of our people at southern Kaduna is anything to go by. We didn’t see the police intimidating or arresting the suspects of the massacre, which means they have targeted some for victimisation,” Malam Aliyu Mai Jama’a, a resident of Zaria, told Weekly Trust.The police on Wednesday, 8th June, 2011, raided the Zaria residence of the cleric. Dr. Abdulganiyyi said the police stormed the house around 3:10 pm with three pick-up vans fully loaded with fierce-looking mobile police.“They did not get anything after searching the house and the school. After they had finished the search, they came out to write something on a paper and moved away. It was Malam who led them into the house and when they finished the search, they went back with him. We want to resolve the issue through peaceful means that is why we are patient and taking all the necessary legal steps. They (police) are trying to provoke us but we would not be provoked since we know their intention,” Dr. Abdulganiyyi said.Apart from Sheikh Albani, another scholar who was picked by the police at Unguwan Mai Gwado Sabon Gari, Zaria on the allegation of making bombs was Malam Bala Adamu Askar.Malam Askar is an Imam at Unguwan Mai Gwado. He was picked on the ground that he was involved in coaching some youths on how to make bombs. Malam Askar is also being held at the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Kaduna, according to relatives of the scholar
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