Hawzah News Agency (Kano, Nigeria) - Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky was narrating the encounter between him and the security chiefs that went to "negotiate'' with him last Thursday and Friday.
"It's quite easy. Go and tell whoever gave you my custody to go ahead and complete his contract. Whatever gain or reward he is promised, he should complete the work so that he can get the reward. I thought you want to kill me? Therefore, go ahead and kill me so you can rest. I am also prepared to die too! The same with my wife. We are all therefore prepared to be killed by you. Then you can live peacefully to enjoy life afterwards.''
He said Lawal Daura went to tell him that "there was an ongoing arrangement" but fell short of stating what the arrangement is.
The Sheikh said they wasted so much of his time before the eventual encounter despite his health situation. “In the last sitting we had with them, they wasted my time so much, despite my health condition I had to sit for five hours waiting for them. My blood pressure was very high and I even told them that I have not had enough sleep.
He arranged the meeting to be by 8:30 am and we were there on time but he did not come until after five hours. He came around 1:00 pm. I was very ill and my body was shaking then. So on his arrival he said the meeting should be moved to the next day. But we greeted anyway."
By the time Daura returned the following day, he was again late by four hours. "The next day the sitting was arranged to be by 4:00 pm and we went there on time. But he did not come until 8:00 pm."
The Sheikh said he had to insist he was not coming again before he spoke.
"So in short, he briefly spoke. He was trying to tell me that there was an ongoing arrangement but he didn't tell me what the arrangement is. He said the implementation of that arrangement depended on my response to it. He said they want to hear something from me which they can take forward to use in deciding what the arrangement will be."
"So I told him that they never discussed with us at the beginning as they were supposed to. All we heard were gunshots."
The Sheikh said Daura asked him what he would do if he was to be released. Sheikh Zakzaky reminded him that it was only free people that negotiate. "I told him they have enchained me, how do they then engage in discussion with me? You can’t be detaining me and be negotiating with me at the same time."
"My reply to his question on what I would do when I regain my freedom was, what was I doing from the beginning? My weapons have always been knowledge and sound reasoning, how would I ever change these for other (killer) weapons? I have been doing what I am doing for the past 40 years, preaching based on sound reasoning and knowledge. How would I ever change from that?"