The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has kicked against the decision of the Federal Government to grant amnesty to some 'repentant ' Boko Haram terrorists by way of providing rehabilitation.

The rights group said it was inconceivable that one year after the administration of president Muhammadu Buhari came into office the Federal Government has failed and deliberately scuttled the prosecution of most of the kingpins of Boko Haram terrorists arrested by the military during counter terrorism war.

Bemoaning the lackadaisical attitudes of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to professionally prosecute detained terrorists including the mastermind of the Nyanya Abuja bomb blasts few years back which killed almost 2, 000 innocent people. The rights group said it was embarrassing that the government has chosen to grant soft landing to mass murderers rather than deploy the apparatus of effective prosecution to obtain the strictest and harshest punishment under the Nigerian Law against the terrorists.

HURIWA said in a statement signed jointly by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf that the disclosure by the Defence Headquarters that it has begun the rehabilitation of hundreds of arrested Boko Haram terrorists amounted to grave crime against the constitution which must be condemned as outrageous and absolutely illegal.

HURIWA called on the relevant committees of the National Assembly to compel the office of the Attorney General to immediately roll out timelines for the efficient prosecution of all detained and disarmed terrorists because of the grave crime against humanity they have committed over the last three years of bombing campaigns resulting in mass casualties of over 25,000 people murdered.

HURIWA recalled that the Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, on Thursday said the military will rehabilitate repentant Boko Haram members through its “Operations Safe Corridor. The rights group said it was a huge misreading of the provisions of the relevant United Nations convention for the Defence Spokesman to hide under the canopy of the Geneva Convention to cover up monumental crimes against humanity perpetrated by armed Boko Haram terrorists who are some of the worst global terrorism gangsters currently.

The group said that the essence of running a constitutional democracy is to ensure that institutions are properly operated to enforce relevant laws with the aim of the enthronement of respect for the principles of the Rule of law.

“Justice is a three way traffic which embodies the interest of both the victim of crime, that of the State and then the person in conflict with the law. We wonder why the Nigerian State through the Defence Headquarters has turned logic on its head by promoting the interest of the terrorists without any regard and respect for the thousands of the victims of the atrocities committed by these terrorists of Boko Haram.”

•Photo shows Comrade Onwubiko.

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