The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday,
gave the Department of State Service, DSS, the nod to retain 400 Boko Haram
suspects in its custody for 90 days.
The suspects are to be kept at a detention
camp at Kainji, Niger State till April 10 when they they will be docked for
terrorism related offenses.Justice Babatunde Quadri granted
the remand order after he heard an ex-parte application the DSS filed through
its lawyer, Geraldine Okafor. The security agency told the court that it had
yet to conclude investigation into trans-border terrorism offenses that were
allegedly committed by the 400 suspects. It told the court that though the
suspects were arrested about five years ago, investigation could not be
completed because the alleged terrorism offense involved other countries like
Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Although the suspects were originally billed to take
their plea before the court yesterday, however, DSS said involvement of other
countries in the matter had warranted the setting up of a joint task force
comprising representatives from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. DSS lawyer
told the court that aside Nigeria, the other three countries were also involved
in the investigation process that led to arrest of the suspects. Meantime,
before he granted the order, Justice Quadri expressed his displeasure over the
slow pace of the investigation which he noted had lasted over five years. The
Judge said he was worried that the suspects had been in detention for a long
period of time, adding that the investigations ought to have been completed and
charges filed against them in accordance with the law. Justice Quadri said he
was also perturbed that the world is watching Nigeria with regards to prolonged
detention of the suspects, saying the Federal High Court would not allow itself
to be used to perpetuate acts that are against the provisions of the
constitution. The court recalled that it had in 2017 granted a similar request
for 90 days remand order against the same set of suspects, even as it urged DSS
to expedite the investigation process as it would not grant such application in
future. Meantime, the court has ordered the defense headquarters to produce
four Boko Haram suspects- Mohammed Goni, Mohammed Maaji, Umar Ladan and Abubakar
Musa- before it on April 10 for their formal trial. DSS told the court that the
quartet who were billed to appear for trial on Tuesday were not released by the defense headquarters for undisclosed reasons, despite a letter it said was
written to the effect by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation.
Justice Quadri ordered that the suspects should be produced before the court
unfailingly on the next adjourned date.
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