Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Former military governor of old Rivers State, Major-General Zamani Lekwot, has told the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) that the call for his execution over killings in Southern Kaduna was laughable.
He told journalists shortly after a prayer/indoor protest against killings in Southern Kaduna organised by Kaduna State chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), yesterday, that the stance of SCSN was diversionary.
“Those saying that I should be executed should remember that nobody lives forever. Moreover, Shari’ah council statement is diversionary. They should address immediate issues, not the issue of 28 years ago which has nothing to do with the current killings in Southern Kaduna. I don’t fear death because nobody lives forever. We should work for peace rather than call for diversionary issues. We should use prayer as the only weapon against the killers in Southern Kaduna,” he said.
Secretary of SCSN, AbdurRahman Hassan, had at a press conference penultimate week specifically said those sentenced to death but pardoned by the military administration of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and General Sani Abacha respectively, should be executed to allow peace reigns in Southern Kaduna.
The 1992 incident occurred during the General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida regime, which set up a tribunal, headed by the late Justice Pius Okadigbo to try Lekwot, the late Major James Atomic Kude (retd) and other Kataf indigenes on allegation of culpable homicide. Justice Okadigbo later sentenced Lekwot, Kude, Yohanna Karau Kibori, Marcus Mamman, Yahaya Duniya and Julius Sarki Zamman Dabo to death by hanging over complicity in the crisis.