FG Secures 653 Terrorism Convictions, Prosecutes 1,060 Suspects

Six hundred and fifty-three terrorism suspects have so far been convicted during the ongoing 11th phase of terrorism trials at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN),stated this yesterday.

The AGF who disclosed this while reviewing the progress of the trials, said 1,060 suspects were brought before the court for the exercise, according to CHANNELS TV.

The television station quoted him as saying that as of Friday, 880 cases had been tried, resulting in 653 convictions, seven acquittals and 27 discharges.

He said the exercise was still ongoing and that the final figures would be announced upon its conclusion, describing the current phase as apparently the largest since the federal government commenced the special terrorism trials, attributing the progress to judicial cooperation, effective prosecution and inter-agency collaboration.

Fagbemi expressed appreciation to the judges handling the cases, particularly under the leadership of Justice Binta Nyako, who has been acting on behalf of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho.

He also commended prosecution and defence counsel, as well as relevant security and justice institutions, for their contributions to the exercise.
According to him, the collaboration among the institutions has been critical to advancing the prosecution of terrorism, terrorism financing and related offences in the country.

On the representation of defendants by lawyers from the Legal Aid Council, the AGF explained that the council was fulfilling its responsibility of providing legal assistance to eligible defendants and clarified, however, that private legal practitioners were also representing some of the suspects.

According to him, defence lawyers had been engaging with their clients before the court proceedings, including visiting detention facilities and preparing them for their defence.

He noted that some of these preparatory activities could not be subjected to public scrutiny because of the sensitive security considerations surrounding the cases.