The Kaduna Judicial Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday concluded its Public Hearing into the December 12, 2015 Shiite/Army clash in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The Chairman of the Commission, Justice Muhammed Lawal-Garba, announced the end of the public hearing at the panel’s sitting on Wednesday.
The commission had before winding up heard submissions of the Commandant of the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, Brigadier General Christopher Musa, and three other Commanders on their role during the clash.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that a total of 150 memoranda were submitted to the panel, with testimonies and recommendations from stakeholders..
The Chairman said the panel may receive other submissions when the need arises.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has applied for a date to make summary submission of its position to the panel.
Its counsel, Biola Oyebanji, said his client needed to submit a harmonised position of its presentations to the panel.
It would be recalled that the 13-man panel was set up in January to determine the immediate and remote causes of the clash.
Part of the work of the panel was to determine the number of persons killed during the clash as well as the number missing and injured.
It was also to identify persons and institutions involved in the crises and determine justification of their action.
The panel was earlier given six weeks to submit its findings, which was later extended by four weeks.
NAN further reports that one of the main actors in the crises, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, boycotted the panel’s sitting.
The IMN hinged its boycott on the continued detention of its leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky.
Meanwhile, officials of the Kaduna State Government told the panel that 347 persons were killed during the clash.
The State Government told the panel that the bodies of the victims deposited at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and the Nigerian Army Depot Zaria were buried in a mass grave in Mando area of Kaduna.
The Army, however, told the panel that only seven persons lost their lives during a Cordon and Search operation between December 12 to 14, 2015.
The Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Jama’atul Nasril Islam as well as several civil society and human right groups made submissions to the panel.
NAN.
Trending
- Yahaya Bello: Tread softly, Arewa group tells EFCC
- Ondo 2024: 171,922 accredited for APC primaries
- Intimate Affairs: Assisted fatherhood, by Funke Egbemode
- NGE, UNICEF sign MoU to boost advocacy for children’s rights
- Killings: No sane foreigner will invest in Nigeria — TY Danjuma
- Alake backs Oyo’s quest for mining licences
- Plateau: Police release casualty figures in latest gunmen attack
- Yahaya Bello: Tread softly, Arewa group tells EFCC