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Ibraheem Yaqoub El-Zakzaky (alternately Ibraheem Zakzaky, Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky; born 5 May 1953) is a Nigerians religious leader. An outspoken and prominent Shi'a leader in Nigeria, he has been imprisoned several times for what he sees as injustice, especially the system of corruption in his country. Zakzaky claims that only Islam can offer solution to the complex socio-political problems facing Nigeria, which has over the years stagnated the country's development. In a lecture he has delivered in marking the occasion of Sheikh Uthman Bn Fodio Week (May 2023) organized by the Academic Forum of Islamic Movement, Zakzaky stated that he is continuing the Jihad of Uthman Bn Fodio to make sure that Islam becomes the ruling religion in not only Nigeria but the entirety of West Africa. In a lecture he delivered on the same occasion in Sokoko (20 May 2023), one of his proponents, Dr. Nasir Hashim has claimed that Zakzaky’s dream is the only hope for Africa.
Sheikh Zakzaky is the head of Nigeria's Islamic Movement, which he started in the late 1970s, when he was a student at Ahmadu Bello University, and began propagating Shia Islam around 1979, at the time of the Iranian revolution—which saw Iran's monarchy overthrown and replaced with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini. Zakzaky believed that the establishment of a republic along similar religious lines in Nigeria would be feasible. He has been detained several times due to accusations of civil disobedience or recalcitrance under military regimes in Nigeria during the 1980s and 1990s, and is still viewed with suspicion or as a threat by Nigerian authorities. In December 2015, the Nigerian Army raided his residence in Zaria, seriously injured him, and killed hundreds of his followers. Since then, he has remained under state detention in the nation's capital pending his release, which was ordered in late 2016. In 2019, a court in Kaduna state granted him and his wife bail to seek treatment abroad but they returned from India after 3 days on the premises of unfair treatment and tough restrictions by security operatives deployed to the medical facility.
On 16 January 2017, Amnesty International demanded that the "Nigerian authorities must immediately comply with a High Court order and release Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife from detention." Nigeria: Comply with court order to release Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky , 16 January 2017, Amnesty
On 13 January 2018, Zakzaky, detained at an unknown location without charges since December 2015, made a short public appearance, his first in two years, being allowed to see his Physician. Since 2014, Zakzaky is being held captive by the Nigerian federal government and Kaduna State government for criminal charges. Since then, many of his followers stage protests for his release. The act of detaining Zakzaky without trial was said to be against the law of the federation.
In July 2019, in order to demand the release of Ibraheem el-Zakzaky, hundreds of people gathered outside government buildings and police tried to disperse them by firing guns into the air and using tear gas. During the clashes, two people died and 40 protesters were arrested by police. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), a group of Nigeria's minority Shia Muslims, said protests will continue until they secure the release of el-Zakzaky. Abdullahi Murtala, a security analyst said, "Shia Muslims are emboldened by the perceived injustice of an 'immoral state' and will continue their protest and show of defiance against the Buhari government".
Another clash with Nigerian police on 22 July claimed the lives of protestors, police officers and a young reporter, Precious Owolabi from the NYSC. A Deputy Commissioner of Police also lost his life during the clash.
The Muhammadu Buhari-led government Proscription the sect as illegal in Nigeria after meeting with service chiefs over the clash.
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