The Federal Goverment, through the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, (SAN) will on Monday (today) resume the trial of suspected Boko Haram insurgents detained in various locations of the country.
A press statement by the Special Adviser to the AGF on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, said on Sunday that the second phase of the trial at the Kainji detention facility in Niger State would begin on Monday (today).
The statement said “Resumption of trial arose from the conclusion of investigation of over 1,000 suspects as ordered by the court during its proceedings of October 2017 by the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.”
He explained that suspects with prima facie cases would be prosecuted, while others without it would have applications made for their discharge.
According to him, “those discharged will undergo a process of de-radicalisation.”
Isah said the de-radicalisation exercise would be conducted by the Office of the National Security Adviser the concerned suspects would be released to their various families.
“There are four categories of suspects at the Kainji detention facility who are classified as Boko Haram suspects who were hitherto investigated by the Joint Investigation Team set up by the Defence Headquarters otherwise known as DHQ/JIT.
“The case files of the suspected insurgents were then transmitted to the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and after a careful review of the cases based on their individual merit, it was discovered that they have no prima facie cases that will sustain a charge against them in any court of law.
“As a result, they were recommended for release and hand over to the Office of the National Security Adviser for rehabilitation and/or de-radicalisation.
“The second category is the set of suspects that the Honourable Attorney General established prima facie cases against and charges already filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja Division who are also mostly in the detention facility under reference and may be willing to plead guilty for lesser sentences.
“The third category are the suspects whose case files are either recommended for further investigation or that have no investigation conducted on them at all hence they do not have case files that will warrant the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation to form any opinion in respect of their case.
“Also, the fourth category is that of the suspects whose cases were reviewed and a prima facie were found and may be willing to opt for a full trial.”