Prosecutors of top Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky’s case stressed that the he does not need to go for medical treatment abroad because health facilities there are capable of providing treatment.

They were speaking after a court in Kaduna state adjourned a bail hearing for Zakzaky to release him on medical grounds and let him be treated abroad.

In recent weeks, concerns have been growing about the top Muslim cleric’s health conditions which have been seriously deteriorating. Doctors say the specialist treatment Zakzaky requires can only be fully accessed outside the African country as high levels of toxic substance were found in his blood. Prosecutors however said otherwise.

Sheikh Zakzaky’s lawyers rejected the prosecution’s argument that the top Shia cleric can be treated in Nigeria.

They argued that there is the urgent need to move Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat to a foreign hospital for proper medical treatment.

Zakzaky’s lawyers have argued that he was not in court because of the seriousness of his health condition as the Muslim cleric could not enter the court upstairs during the last hearing.

Meanwhile, Zakzaky supporters insisted that they are a minority group deserving protection under the Nigerian constitution.

Sheikh Zakzaky, who is in his mid-sixties, has been in detention since 2015 despite a high court ruling. He was arrested after a deadly army raid, which led to the death of 300 of his followers, and three of his sons. Zakzaky lost his eye in the attack.

By Monday the fifth of August, the Kaduna State High Court is expected to rule on the medical bail application filed by Zakzaky’s lawyers.

Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat have been in detention for close to four years.