The Federal High Court in Borno has ordered the release of at least 313 suspected terrorists who were arrested by the military.
The court ordered their release because there wasn't enough evidence to prove their guilt.
The Defence Headquarters announced that troops neutralised 121 terrorists, apprehended 253 suspects, and rescued 244 kidnapped hostages in various operations nationwide within a week.
Maj. Gen. Buba Edward, the Director of Defence Media Operations, revealed this information during a briefing on military operations across the country in Abuja on Thursday.
He assured that the military would obey the court order and hand over the suspected terrorists to the state government.
Buba stated, 'Following a Federal High Court order in Maiduguri, a total of 313 suspects detained for terrorism-related offenses were set to be released to the Borno State government. The court ordered their release due to lack of evidence after the conclusion of the investigation and other related matters.'
He also said, 'The cases were prosecuted by the Department of Prosecution from the Federal Ministry of Justice. Consequently, they will be transferred to the Borno State Government for further action.'
The PUNCH It has been reported that this is not the first time suspected terrorists have been acquitted due to lack of evidence.
In December 4, 2023, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), mentioned that out of 1,323 suspects prosecuted for terrorism, only 366 were convicted.
He noted that 896 others were discharged due to lack of evidence.
Fagbemi acknowledged the progress made in the Kainji Prosecution Project which started in October 2017, where 366 convictions were recorded, and 896 others were discharged due to insufficient evidence, with 61 cases adjourned for further hearing.
There have been three phases of the exercise so far, spanning between October 2017 and July 2018, and Fagbemi called on all stakeholders to sustain the momentum for the well-being of the country and its people.
Regarding the military operations in the past week, Buba mentioned that in the North-East, troops of Operation Hadin Kai neutralised 52 terrorists, apprehended 137, and rescued 78 kidnapped hostages.
He also mentioned that troops recovered various weapons and ammunition during the operations.
In the North Central, troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke killed 47 terrorists, apprehended 17, and rescued four kidnap victims, as well as recovered a cache of arms.
In the North-West, the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralised 62 terrorists, arrested 12 others, and rescued 162 kidnapped hostages.
They also recovered a significant amount of weapons and ammunition.
