Insurgency: Insufficient Courtrooms, Accommodation Delay Over 2,000 Detainees’ Trial
The Federal Government has commenced preparations for the prosecution of over 2,000 Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province insurgents currently in custody.
Ahead of the planned trial, a meeting of senior officials of the Ministry of Justice, Department of State Services, the military, the police and other stakeholders was hosted by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, in Abuja, last week.
The meeting deliberated on the challenges delaying the prosecution of the insurgents and concluded that the facilities required for the prosecution must be put in place as quickly as possible.
Journalists gathered on Sunday that the stakeholders identified the lack of sufficient courtrooms, accommodation for judges and other supporting staff, among other things, as being responsible for the delayed trial of the detainees, many of whom had been held in custody for several years at a special facility in Niger State.
The terror suspects are expected to be tried within the premises of the detention centre.
Sources said the quick release of funds by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning would also determine how quickly the logistics and structures would be put in place.
Speaking on the delayed trial of the detainees, a senior official stated, “We have issues in terms of the inadequacy of the facilities in terms of the courtrooms and accommodation for judges and other supporting officials. Before we can start any trial, we need to address these issues lest we fall into a problem if we just mobilise to the place (detention centre).
“We faced problems that constrained the commencement of the trial. So, we have sat down to review the issues and we agreed that we should undertake a tour if there were issues that needed to be fixed before we picked a date for the trial.
“Most of us have never been there and we need to go and see the situations on the ground. Therefore, we met with stakeholders and representatives of the armed forces so that we could go together and see what could be done.”
Our correspondent learnt that the DPP would lead other justice ministry officials and top security officials to the detention centre in April as part of the preparations for the commencement of trial.
Punch
