By James Orji
Friday has been fixed for the arraignment of 400 suspected Boko Haram sponsors. The suspect who were arrested in April and kept in the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS and Army in an undisclosed location in Abuja, would now be tried by a federal high court in Abuja presided by Justice Anwuli Chikere.
About 400 persons were arrested in Kano, Borno, Abuja, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara, in a coordinated operation by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), with support provided by the Department of State Services, DSS, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Some of the BDC operators arrested include Baba Usaini, Abubakar Yellow (Amfani), Yusuf Ali Yusuf (Babangida), Ibrahim Shani, Auwal Fagge, and Muhammad Lawan Sani, a gold dealer.
Since then, the suspects made up of some operators of Bureau de Change, BDC have been in the custody of security agencies, as many Nigerians, including Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN demanding for their trial.
The lawyer cum human rights activist had written a letter to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in August, requesting that the suspects be charged to court.
The letter reads: “On May 4 2021, it was widely reported widely by the media that the Federal Government had concluded arrangement to prosecute about 400 alleged sponsors and financiers of terrorism in Nigeria.
“In the said publication, your office assured the nation that the suspects would be arraigned after the industrial action embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
“In view of the attacks being unleashed on law abiding citizens by groups surgents in several parts of the country, we strongly commend the move by the Federal Government to prosecute the suspects who were reported to have been arrested in a nationwide operation a few months ago.
“We, however, request that our law firm be furnished with information with respect to when criminal charges were filed against the suspects since the strike by JUSUN has since been called off.
“Kindly ensure that we are furnished with the requested information within 7 days of the receipt of this letter in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011,” Falana said.
In 2020, six Nigerians were jailed in the United Arab Emirates, UAE for allegedly funding Boko Haram.
