There was tension in Kaduna on Friday afternoon as members of the Islamic movement in Nigeria popularly known as Shiites took to the streets of the state capital to protest the continuous detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife since 2015.
The IMN members who displayed pictures of Sheikh El-Zakzaky and other inscriptions, as well as chanting anti-government songs to mark the day of the oppressed, demanded the release of El-Zakzaky whom they say has been incarcerated for over four years without conviction, despite an order for his release by a court of competent jurisdiction.
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The protest, however, turned rowdy at about 4 pm as policemen who were quickly mobilized to the area along the Ahmadu Bello way, attempted to disperse them
Some of the eyewitnesses appealed to the government to either release El-Zakzaky or speed up his trial in the interest of peace.