Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has called on the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to immediately begin the prosecution of the arrested sponsors of terrorism and terror suspects.
Falana made the call while reacting to the last Tuesday’s attack on the Medium Security Correctional Centre, Kuje, on Sunday in a statement titled ‘Why has the FG Refused to Try Hundreds of Sponsors of Terrorism and Terror Suspects?’
The human rights lawyer, who spoke as the Interim Chair of Alliance on Surviving Covid 19 and Beyond (ASCAB), blamed the Kuje attack by terrorists, where about 800 inmates including 64 Boko Haram terrorists escaped, on the non-implementation of section 28 (1), (2) & (3) of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) Act.
The learned silk explained that the act stipulated how to secure all correctional centres and urged the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to urgently approve funds for the purchase and installation of the necessary security equipment.
He also challenged Malami to disclose where the 400 sponsors of terrorism and the 800 terror suspects who were due to be arraigned in the Federal High Court last year were being detained, since only 64 terror suspects were detained in Kuje Correctional Centre.
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He said, “Before then, the 10 soldiers led by an army captain who ambushed and killed the three police officers who had arrested an alleged kidnap suspect, Bala Hamisu (a.k.a. Wadume) in Jalingo, Taraba State in August 2019 were not arraigned in the Federal High Court even though a charge was filed against them by the police.
“In fact, the case was discontinued against them by the Attorney-General of the Federation in a purported exercise of his powers under section 174 of the Constitution. It has been confirmed that Wadume was one of the terror suspects who escaped from Kuje Correctional Centre last week.”
Falana also questioned the motive of the AGF for refusing to grant the fiat to governors of the North East to prosecute terrorism suspects, some of whom, he noted had been detained for over 10 years.
“In view of the foregoing, we are compelled to call on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), to ensure that the indicted sponsors of terrorism and terror suspects are charged before the Federal High Court.
“We also call on the members of the National Assembly who have been appropriating funds for the prosecution of terror suspects to monitor the prosecution of the indicted terror suspects,” he added.
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