Military Chief demands special courts for terrorists

Military Chief demands special courts for terrorists

The Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Musa, on Tuesday lamented the delay in the trial of suspected Boko Haram members, saying there should be a special court for terrorists.

Musa, who stated this when he alongside other security chiefs, appeared before the House of Representatives on Tuesday for the commencement of a sectoral debate, justified the huge budget for arms purchase.

The CDS explained that because Nigeria is not a manufacturer of military hardware, arms were purchased in dollars, which made the huge budget insignificant, considering the value of the naira.

Apart from the CDS, other security chiefs that appeared at the House included the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; the Chief of Army Staff,  Taoreed Lagbaja and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar.

An angry House had on Thursday last week, refused to speak with the representatives of the security chiefs, noting that only the heads of the various outfits would be granted an audience to speak on the state of the nation’s security and what is being done to make the country safer for all.

The session lived up to its billing as General Musa, the first to speak, tendered an unreserved apology for the inability of the service chiefs to honour the invitation extended to them last week.

Speaking on the counter-insurgency war, Musa lamented the slow pace of prosecution of the criminal elements arrested by military troops, saying “There were a lot of Boko Haram elements that were captured and kept. We have kept them for five or six years.

Insisting that armed forces could not prosecute the suspects, he stated, “We can only provide protection for them. Some of them have been found wanting but no prosecution. Keeping them for this lengthy period, everybody is accusing the armed forces of keeping them against their human rights but we cannot prosecute. That is one aspect.

“Another aspect of the judiciary is this: you do all your efforts, you make an arrest, you hand over, but before you enter your vehicle, the man has been released. Now you have risked yourself in doing that. By the time he is released, he goes to tell the people who you are or family members and you are at risk. So, it gets to a stage where the security forces are not even willing to do anything because when they make an arrest, the person is released.

“That is one area we need to look into. We must have special courts that can handle these things.”

Musa also lamented the near absence of local manufacturing of armament in the country, noting that the development meant that the security agencies did not often get value for money despite the huge budgetary allocation for defence and security in the past couple of years.