350 terrorists set to face trial - Nigerian Army

monjola sotubo

June 19, 2015 10:41 PM

The Nigerian Army Chief of Administration, Adamu Abubakar, who spoke at a press conference on Friday, June 19, said that the 350 suspects are a fraction of 504 persons in detention.

About 350 Boko Haram militants are set to be tried at a Federal Court for terrorist activities in the North Eastern part of Nigeria, military official said.

The Nigerian Army Chief of Administration, Adamu Abubakar, who spoke at a press conference on Friday, June 19, said that the 350 suspects are a fraction of 504 persons in detention.

He said out of the 504 suspects in detention, prima facie cases was established against 350 of them by the Joint Investigation Teams, set up by the defence headquarters to investigate, screen and categorize the suspected insurgents.

Abubakar said case files of the suspects have been forwarded to the attorney general and the ministry of justice office.

Similarly, the major general reacted to the recent allegations against the military in a report by human rights organisation, Amnesty International.

“For the avoidance of doubts, the Amnesty International allegations of human rights abuse and extra judicial killing of civilians are a rehash of the same allegations made in 2011,” he said.

Abubakar said the only new claim in the AI’s recent report is the increase in the number of alleged victims of extra judicial killings from 4,600 to 13, 000.

He said the military has the constitutional rights to protect Nigerians and cannot engage in mass killings as portrayed by AI in its June 3 report.

The Major general said, “Sequel to the report of the investigation panel, 42 detainees were handed over to Borno State government on Thursday, November 6, 2014 and another set of 124 persons were also handed to the state government on November 8.

“Additionally, code of conduct of troops and other internal operation and rules of engagement clearly spelt out guideline for troops. Therefore the Nigerian military does not in any way condone indiscipline or breach of such regulations, let alone wanton killing or destruction,” he said.

He said the Amnesty International did not honour the military’s invitation to provide one of its members for the investigation panel to look into the allegations.

“The military is still conducting investigations on Amnesty International’s allegations. In the course of the forensic investigations, the withdrawal of troops from the frontline for investigation tends to dampen the morale of soldiers and distract ongoing operations against insurgents. This is one reason why the understanding of Amnesty International would be worth the while,” he said.

monjola sotubo