The Nigerian military has revealed that over 1,400 suspected terrorists arrested in the North East are still awaiting trial, despite investigations being concluded.
This was made known by the Acting Commander of the Joint Investigation Centre (JIC) under Operation Hadin Kai, Colonel A.U. Ahmed, during a media briefing in Maiduguri.
According to him, 1,877 suspects have so far been investigated by the centre, out of which 1,450 have been confirmed to have active cases and are now awaiting prosecution.
Colonel Ahmed explained that the Joint Investigation Centre does not only arrest suspects; it also carefully categorises them based on their level of involvement in terrorist activities.
“After the investigation, the Complex Casework Group carries out the review of the investigation reports and offers the necessary legal advice,” he said.
He added, “Based on the result of the investigations and the legal review, the detainees are categorised into three groups, which are prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration.”
Those found to be actively involved in terrorism are sent to the Giwa Project in Kainji for trial. Others, deemed less culpable, are either handed over for rehabilitation under Operation Safe Corridor or reintegrated into society through the Borno State Government.
However, Ahmed expressed deep frustration over the challenges of moving these cases forward. Chief among the issues, he said, is the difficulty in finding witnesses to support prosecution.
“The centre faces difficulty in securing most of the witnesses that would have aided the investigations,” he explained. “This is partly due to lack of accessibility by own investigators to most of the areas of arrest or crime scene, [and] the unwillingness of some witnesses to come forward and testify.”
He also flagged the slow pace of justice. “The delay in prosecution of most of the suspects whose investigations have been completed also poses a great challenge to the centre. Most of the suspects in detention are awaiting prosecution,” Ahmed said.
According to him, these delays mean some suspects end up spending far longer in detention than necessary, a situation that continues to strain both legal and operational processes.
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