The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Mechanised Division, Kaduna, Maj.-Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, said Monday that the Zaria-based leader of the Shi’ite Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife were in the protective custody of the military.
He denied that the wife was killed as alleged by the sect in a statement on Sunday.
Members of the movement clashed with a convoy of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, in Zaria last Saturday, leading to the death of Shi’ite members.
But the GOC did not specify where the Sheikh and his wife were kept.
He said: “The Shi’ite leader, Zakzaky, is safe and in a protective custody with his wife in a conducive environment.
“We will allow him to speak with his followers. There was jubilation in Zaria as regards army’s engagement in the city.
“As military, we had to do what we did to restore sanity because the sect is fond of mounting illegal roadblocks and checking motorists as if it is a government.”