El-Zakzaky said he and his wife hid in a laundry to survive the rampaging soldiers’ bullet but only came out when the house was to be set on fire
The Army in 2015, attacked the headquarters of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) in Zaria, with the body counts reaching almost 400.
Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the leader of the IMN recounts to the BBC Hausa how he and his wife survived the attack by hiding in a laundry room.
He said they were later forced to come out when soldiers allegedly threatened to burn the building down.
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The Shiite leader said the attackers did not only kill several people, including his children but also shot him and his wife.
El-Zakzaky pleaded with the Army to release his international passport so that he and his wife can travel abroad for medical attention to remove some of the shrapnel in their bodies which doctors overseas said could be removed
In December 2015, soldiers from the 1 Division raided El-Zakzaky’s home and arrested him and his wife, a day after followers of Zakzaky blocked the convoy of the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai on their way to Depot Nigerian Army for a function.
El-Zakzaky, who claimed that his leg was broken and eye damaged, explained that it was by the miracle of Almighty Allah that his leg and damaged eye were healed.
El-Zakzaky said he was still hopeful of going back to Zaria and rebuilding his former religious complex that was pulled down.
According to him, attempts to get his International Passport and that of his wife so that they could travel out and get the required medical attention, were allegedly frustrated by the authorities.
El-Zakzaky said: “When they came to kill us, intense firepower made us to hide in a room that was used as a laundry. But they announced that if we don’t come out, they will set fire on the house so I decided it would be better I went and they shot me than to be burnt alive.”
“They killed my children and many others. They shot me and my wife….I was later taken to a medical facility in Zaria, 44 hospitals in Kaduna and then to Abuja.”
“I survived only by the will of Allah. This my eye was affected when bullets flew past but it is healing by the will of Allah,” he said.
He, however, appealed for his passport and that of his wife to be released so that they could be able to access medical treatment abroad.
