North-East governors demand power to prosecute terrorists at State levels

Obinwannem News North-East governors demand power to prosecute terrorists at State levels.

The North-East Governors Forum has asked the Federal Government to transfer the rights to prosecute apprehended terrorists to various States in the North-East.

The Governors made these demands at the opening of the meeting of the North East Governors’ Forum in Yola, Adamawa state capital.

The Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, while lamenting the outraging worsening insecurity ravaging the region, cited the need to facilitate prosecution of those charged with terrorism activities.

Zulum maintained that the process of prosecuting terrorists which is solely reserved to the Attorney General of the Federation is cumbersome and needs to be amended.

He also said governors in the region need to take extreme measures to ensure incidences of house kidnapping as reported in some states, do not extend to the North-East.

In his words, “At the moment, the process is a bit cumbersome as all suspects charged with terrorism and terrorist-related offenses have to be transferred to Abuja for prosecution, as only the Attorney-General of the Federation has the statutory powers to prosecute terrorists; according to the provisions of the anti-terrorism law.

“We need to obtain prosecutorial fiat from the Attorney-General to enable us to prosecute those charged with terrorism in our respective States, instead of referring them to Abuja.

“There is however absolute need for us to seriously look into how to stimulate and renew the confidence and trust of our people in the ability of our security forces to contain the palpable threats being posed by the continued presence of the insurgents.

“This is to ensure that our people are adequately protected and sufficiently guaranteed to open up and go about their normal socio-economic and business activities, without fear of being attacked or kidnapped or even forcefully being recruited by the insurgents.”

Nwada Ugochinyere Onyechere reporting, Obinwannem News

leave a reply

WP Radio
WP Radio
OFFLINE LIVE