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The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, has said the delay in the trial of terrorist’s, bandits, kidnappers, and other criminals for terror-related crimes is undermining efforts at curtailing security threats in the country.
Irabor, who spoke at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) at the weekend in Lagos, noted that only 359 out of the 5,359 suspected bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists arrested by security forces in the Northeast and Northwest between 2017 and 2020 have been prosecuted in court.
The development, Irabor said, has hindered the timely punishment of criminals to serve as a deterrent to others.
He said: “The processes involved in criminal investigation, trial, and prosecution in Nigeria are cumbersome, hence leading to delay in the arraignment and dispensation of justice to suspected terrorists and other violent non-state actors arrested by troops and held in different correctional centers across the country.
“This has often given criminals the impetus to believe that they will not be made to account for their evil activities. The recent upsurge in attacks by terrorists on correctional centers in the country can be viewed as part of efforts by the criminals to free their colleagues who have been in detention over time.”
Irabor said the delay in the trial of such criminals was militating against military efforts at curbing security threats, thereby undermining national security and development.
On the so-called Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria, the CDS stressed that nobody, including President Muhammadu Buhari, ever directed him to treat Boko Haram militants with kid gloves.
He also dismissed calls for the use of mercenaries in the war against Boko Haram and ISWAP but restated his preference for proper kitting and capacity-building for the armed forces.
According to him, such calls amount to creating more problems than tackling the root causes of the current national security challenges.
- Zagazola Makama
