From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A Kaduna high court on Monday ordered the Kaduna State Government to treat Zeenah Ibraheem, the wife of Shia cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Yaqoub El Zakzaky, for COVID-19.
Last week, El Zakzaky’s son raised the alarm that his mother had contracted the virus.
At the commencement of the trial on Monday, El Zakzaky’s counsel, Femi Falana, SAN, said that the wife of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) has COVID-19.
Falana told the court that they applied that Zeenah, who is the second defendant in the trial and had tested positive, be allowed to visit a medical facility for immediate treatment.
He presented the results of Zeenah’s test before the court.
He argued that ‘the medical facility at the Kaduna correctional centre did not have the needed facilities to treat the virus.
‘Today, at the resumed trial of the client case, the prosecution brought four witnesses including a medical doctor who testified before the court.
‘But we also applied to the court, we drew the attention of the court on behalf of our clients to the fact that the wife of our client, Zeenah, had tested positive for the dangerous COVID-19 pandemic and she is being treated in the medical centre of the correctional facility,’ Falana said.
‘We applied to the court that the authorities should take her to a government hospital that has the facility to treat the virus.’
Prosecutor Chris Umar did not object to the application.
In his ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Gideon Kurada of the Kaduna State High Court, directed the Kaduna State Government to treat Zeenatu for COVID-19.
The case has been adjourned to January 26.
