Despite the promise of the Federal Government to commence the trial of people suspected to have been involved in terrorism in early December last year, the date for the commencement of the trial is not known yet.

The delay, it was gathered, was due to concerns about the safety of the judges, counsel and witnesses because of the sensitive nature of the cases.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, had on November 16, 2023, disclosed that the trial of the suspects would begin two weeks from that date, but there has been no development on the trial since then.

Fagbemi had given the timeline at the opening of the 40th technical commission and plenary meeting of the inter-governmental action group against money laundering in West Africa in Abuja.

The AGF said the government was considering adopting virtual trials to prevent delay.

He had stated, “Efforts are on to resume the trial of those categories of people. And I think, in the next two weeks, it will be a different story. We are conscious of that issue.

“Facilities are being put in place. Apart from the regular physical mode of trial, we are working on ways to ensure that virtual trials can also be conducted.

More than 205 persons have been convicted on charges related to their involvement with the militant Islamist group, which began an insurgency in 2009 aimed at creating an Islamic state in the North-East.

The jail terms ranged from three to 60 years, while over 1,500 persons allegedly affiliated with Boko Haram have been released for rehabilitation over the years.

More than 35,000 persons have been killed and two million forced to flee their homes since the insurgency began.

The Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, had told journalists in January that the Federal Government would commence the second phase of the prosecution of Boko Haram suspects being held in Kainji, Niger State.

She had stated, “The Federal Government is taking steps to reconfigure the military holding facilities to make it adaptable and conducive for the recommencement of trial. We will start the prosecution by the end of the first quarter of 2023. We are in the process of renovating and, in fact, reconstructing facilities such as the courtrooms and residential areas.

“It is important to ensure that there are enhanced measures put in place. We are utilising military facilities and therefore, they were not built like proper courts.

“The resort to the use of military facilities is to ensure that trials are conducted in a safe and secure environment. There are risks associated with moving such a large number of accused persons at the same time for trial, so this is one critical issue that is of utmost concern.”

In March 2022, a total of 500 ex-Boko Haram terrorists were reportedly released from the De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Camp in Mallam Sidi, Kwami Local Government Area of Gombe State, after undergoing reformation at the facility.

They were also reportedly given N20,000 grants each after their release into society, but there have been reports of many of them getting involved in criminal activities or going back to the Islamist sect.

In the 2023 budget, the Federal Government allocated N2.4bn for the establishment of two rehabilitation centres for repent members of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.

In the 2024 budget, the Federal Government proposed N210.6m for the prosecution of Boko Haram cases, a significant reduction in the allocations in the two previous years for prosecuting suspected terrorists despite a backlog of terrorism cases.

In 2022 and 2023, the government voted N500m each for the prosecution of suspected members of the terrorist group.

Commenting on the non-commencement of the trial, human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, said, “I know that the Buhari regime didn’t have the political will to fight terrorism. There was a clear understanding that the immediate past government had sympathy for terrorists, which is based on its actions and inactions.

“Given the damage that terrorism has done to the country, the trial of terror suspects should be expedited in line with the Terrorism Prevention Act and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. That will go a long way to deter further acts of terror and portray the government as interested in securing the country. (The PUNCH)

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