The Federal Government has
disclosed its intention to commence trial of Boko Haram suspects in custody
with established cases of terrorism at Kainji, Niger State.
This was disclosed
yesterday by the Director of Prosecutions for the Ministry of Justice, Mr.
Muhammed Umar, at the ongoing capacity building programme for the military and
civil prosecutors in Abuja tagged: “Strengthening Justice and Accountability in
Nigeria”.
The Programme organised by
Wayamo Foundation, Africa Group for Justice and Accountability (AGJA) and
International Nuremberg Principles Academy, aims to address the most serious
crimes under Nigerian criminal law.
Umar who was represented
by Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim, said that those to be tried were suspects with
established prima facie cases, while decision was yet to be taken on those
without any confirmed evidences. He however, assured that the Federal
Government would take a stand on what to do very soon.
He said, “This is a very
important programme. My happiness is that we have our colleagues in uniform…
since we have officers in our midst they will help us because while we only
depend on the powers of investigation, they have the power to arrests and in
custody.
“Luckily, Federal
Government has begun trial of those in custody with terror-related cases in
Kainji. Those with established prima facie cases, their trials will commence
but for those without any evidence established against them yet, Federal
Government will soon take decision against them.”
The Director of Justice
commended the organisers for assisting in building the capacity of Nigerian
legal officers by equipping them with conventional international skills.
He said the training would
widen the horizon of prosecutors (both civil and military) and would help in
drastically reducing crimes in the Nigerian society.
According to him,
participants at the previous training were taught the need to rely on
information available on files of various crimes, go through them, do an
evaluation before filling charges in court.
In the same vein, the
Director Legal Services, Nigerian Army, Brig-Gen. Yusuf Shalangwa, said the
military had taken the necessary legal procedures to gather enough evidence
against the terrorist suspects.
“The military is at the
forefront of complex criminal cases and preparation of the case files against
the terrorists to ensure that they have the appropriate evidences before trial
commences.”
There is however, the need
for continuous round the clock training for skilled manpower in this regard,”
he said.
-
Advertisement -
Shalangwa who underscored
the importance of capacity building in any profession said, “It is worthy to
say that the law is dynamic and there is the need for continuous manpower training
to ensure an effective and efficient military prosecution”.
He said that Army
personnel were participating in the training not by accident, having
participated in previous training, stressing that the training was sequel to
the one held in June this year. He appreciated the Chief of Army Staff, Gen
Buratai for approving the attendance of Army personnel for the training.
He added that the Nigerian
Army Police Corp whose duty was to investigate criminal activities would
further be equipped by the training in dealing with terrorist cases in the
country.
Shalangwa also commended
the organisers for collaborating with the Nigerian Army and the Federal
Ministry of Justice, while he assured that the Nigerian Armed Forces will
continue to carry out their activities with strict compliance with the rule of
law in term with international military best practices.
Against this backdrop, the
stakeholders stressed the need to domesticate some of the prosecution processes
of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the handling of civil and criminal
cases by Nigerian prosecutors both in public and military judicial
institutions.
The Director, Wayamo
Foundation, Mrs. Bettina Ambach, said this was necessary because the country
had not yet domesticated the ICC best practice.
Ambach noted that the
training was aimed at strengthening justice and accountability in Nigeria by
ensuring the prosecutors acquire necessary knowledge they needed in dealing
with crime in line with best practices across the world.
According to her, the
objective “is to build capacity to address the most serious and complex crimes
under Nigerian criminal law (international, transnational and terrorism related
crimes), including those crimes that potentially fall under the jurisdiction of
the International Criminal Court (ICC)”.
She said that Nigerian
judicial system needed more dedicated investigators and prosecutors on both
civil and criminal matters.
Topics listed for the
workshop include; Synergies Between Offences under the Nigerian Criminal/Penal
Code/Military Law and those under the Rome Statute-a Comparative Analysis,
Military Justice and its Challenges: Command Responsibility and Superior
Orders, Complementarity-Prosecuting International Crimes in a Domestic Context
and Understanding the Rights of the Accused before Civil and Military Courts.
Source: TodayNG
No comments: