Court sets 475 terrorist suspects free

The Federal High Court sitting at Wawa Cantonment in Niger State has ordered the release of 475 Nigerians who were suspected of having connections to terrorist group, Boko Haram.

While facing special courts established to fast-track the cases of the over 1,000 terrorist suspects, the accused were released due to the prosecution's failure to establish any concrete evidence against them on Friday, February 16, 2018.

The inmates, who were produced in four batches, got charges against them squashed following ex parte motions filed by the Federal Government admitting that there was no evidence to prosecute them.

Following their release, the four judges also ruled that the 475 inmates be sent to their state governments and be rehabilitated before being reintegrated into the society.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by Salihu Isah, the media aide to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Sunday, February 18.

He said the suspects were arrested and detained due to factors such as suspicion of belonging to Boko Haram, or concealing information that would have helped security agencies to stop their attacks.

The statement read, "Those suspects who are mentally deranged or challenged with their health are to be provided medical attention at any appropriate medical or other mental health facilities.

"The states were also to provide appropriate training in the manner and for the period that the state deemed appropriate and reasonable."

Released suspects include nursing mother, twin brothers

The statement also shed light on the details of some of the inmates who have been in detention for years for their suspected affiliation with Boko Haram.

The statement revealed, "Among the list of the group released was a pathetic case of a female suspect, Lubabatu Yakubu who was arrested in 2014 by the officials of the Department of Security Services (DSS) in Numan town, Adamawa state, two days after marriage and divorced by her Boko Haram husband.

"Lubabatu was accused of her affiliation with Boko Haram husband.

"Another suspect, a young mother cuddling her three months old baby, Mariam Mohammed, a Shua Arab from Borno State was released. She was lured into the Boko Haram sect and taken to Sambisa forest by her elder brother and married off to his friend at eleven years old.

"She was arrested by soldiers of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in 2014 while trying to escape the Boko Haram enclave in the Sambisa Forest.

"Taye Hamza and Kehinde Hamza are both identical twins from Oyo State based in Bauchi State. They were amongst the lucky ones released.

"The twins who are mechanic by profession were arrested in 2010 by the DSS at their workshop in Bauchi State for servicing a vehicle belonging to the dreaded Boko Haram member."

The court also sentenced over 200 detained suspects to various years, ranging from three years to 60 years imprisonment during last week's proceedings.

Boko Haram menace

Since the insurgency of the terrorist group escalated after a 2009 crackdown by the military, Boko Haram, chiefly under Abubakar Shekau's leadership, has been responsible for the death of over 20,000 people and the displacement of more than 2.5 million scattered across Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps across the country and its neighbours.

After a massive military operation resulted in the displacement of the group from its Camp Zairo base in the infamous Sambisa Forest, it has resorted to suicide bomb attacks on soft targets and carried out daring attacks on military bases, with hundreds of captives still unaccounted for.