Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has known as for the quick launch of Kaduna-based cleric, Sheikh Sani Khalifa Zaria, describing his continued detention with out trial as a grave violation of his elementary rights.
Sheikh Khalifa has reportedly been held since December 2025 over allegations of involvement in a coup plot, but has not been formally charged earlier than any court docket of regulation.
This extended detention, with out due course of, raised severe constitutional and human rights issues.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, Atiku famous that even a subsisting order of the Federal Excessive Courtroom directing that the cleric be introduced in court docket has been ignored, an motion he described as a direct affront to the rule of regulation and judicial authority.
In response to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) chief, “There will be no democracy with out strict adherence to the rule of regulation. No safety company is above the Structure, and none has the facility to deal with the rights of residents as privileges to be allotted with at will.”
He additional warned that the continued detention of Sheikh Khalifa—with out entry to his household, authorized counsel, and enough medical care—amounted to a gross violation of his constitutional rights.
Atiku cautioned that normalising such conduct by safety companies posed a major threat to Nigeria’s democratic foundations and risked eroding the basic rights assured to all residents.
He additionally expressed concern over rising public hypothesis surrounding the cleric’s situation, noting that the silence of the authorities has solely deepened uncertainty and distrust.
“Nigeria can not proceed to assert the standing of a democracy whereas the rights of its residents are routinely and overtly violated,” he acknowledged.
Atiku, due to this fact, known as on the related safety companies to both launch Sheikh Sani Khalifa instantly or cost him earlier than a reliable court docket with out additional delay, insisting that something wanting this constitutes illegal detention and an abuse of energy.
Chuks Okocha
Times Nigeria