The Federal Government has commenced another phase of the mass trial of suspected terrorists.
The prosecution team is led by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, while the Director-General of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Aliyu Abubakar, is leading lawyers representing indigent defendants.
The suspects are facing charges bordering on terrorism, terrorism financing, and aiding and abetting insurgent activities.
Proceedings, which opened on Monday, are being conducted simultaneously in multiple courtrooms at the Federal High Court complex in Abuja, with several judges assigned to the exercise. The trial is expected to last one week.
Some of the judges handling the cases are Binta Nyako, Emeka Nwite, Musa Liman, James Omotosho, Obiora Egwuatu, and Ekerete Akpan.
The large-scale exercise also affected regular court proceedings, with many matters earlier scheduled for hearing rescheduled to make way for the terrorism trials.
Security was heightened around the court complex, with armed personnel restricting access to roads leading to the facility and deploying military vehicles at strategic locations.
In April, the Federal Government announced the commencement of “phase nine” of the mass trial of terrorism suspects.
At the time, Fagbemi said the government secured 386 convictions from 508 terrorism-related cases prosecuted before the courts.
