North-East governors demand powers to prosecute B’Haram suspects
Governors in the North-East on Thursday, expressed the need for a transfer of prosecutorial right of terrorists to the state governments.
the governors described as cumbersome the process of prosecuting terrorists, which was solely reserved for the Attorney-General of the Federation, adding that such process should be amended.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting of the North-East Governors’ Forum in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, the Chairman of the forum and Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, said, “As we deliberate on the scourge of terrorism and terror groups within the North-East, we need to fashion out ways of facilitating the prosecution of those charged with terrorism activities.
“At the moment, the process is a bit cumbersome as all suspects charged with terrorism and terrorist related offences 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 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”.
He also said governors in the region needed to take far reaching measures to ensure incidents of house kidnappings as reported in some states, did not extend to the North-East.
Among those at the meeting were the governors of Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe states, Yobe and Taraba states were represented by their deputies.