The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has described a recent statement credited to the Federal Government that its leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, had wanted to seek asylum in India before his repatriation as part of a campaign of calumny by the government to cover its own gross misconduct in a foreign land.

IMN dismissed the claim in a press statement issued on Sunday by President of its Media Forum, Ibrahim Musa.

The group further accused the Federal Government of “mischievously going beyond its role of supervision to the level of maliciously interfering in the medical process, instructing on which doctors the Sheikh and his wife must see, while refusing to allow them access to their own doctors, which confirms the allegation that the government had wanted to kill the Sheikh in the name of medical treatment.”

“Before efforts at resolving this impasse could be concluded, the Sheikh was brought back to Nigeria, since their evil schemes could not be executed. The government is now churning out contradictory explanations to blame the Sheikh for not allowing himself to be killed in the name of medical treatment. The Nigerian government is also blackmailing the Sheikh that he sought for asylum in India just to cover their own gross misconduct in a foreign land,” the statement said.