•DHQ recommends 500 Boko Haram suspects for trial
•Seeks release of 167 detainees, review of 614 others
The Office of National Security Adviser (NSA) has cried out that it is not being funded adequately to meet the challenges of insecurity threatening the peace of the nation.
The NSA, Sambo Dasuki, has, therefore, called on the National Assembly to place his office on first-line charge in the disbursement of funds from the national budget, as the process of constitution amendment continues.
The NSA in a presentation before the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution on Wednesday, represented by Colonel Bello Fadile, who is the Director of Special Duties in the agency, said despite the urgent and important nature of its job, the agency is poorly funded and receives its budgetary allocation late.
“As I speak, the Office of the National Security Adviser has not received its third quarter allocation. Last year, over N7 billion was not paid to the agency to do its functions,” he said.
He added that having won a seat in the United Nations Security Council, Nigeria will now be put to test on the way it reacts to emergency.
The director also noted that the nation had been faced with challenges in the past, including an incident where President Goodluck Jonathan could have been stuck on air in France because Nigeria owed the country some fees that had not been offset.
“The Presidential fleet could have been stuck mid air because we were owing and we’re taken to court in France, we had to pay close to €3m”, he told the committee.
Deputy speaker of the House and Chairman of the committee, Emeka Ihedioha, said the House passed the Bill for financial autonomy for the police and national security agencies after an interaction with security chiefs who identified lack of appropriate and timely release of funds as one of the challenges it faces in emergency response.
Another report on Wednesday said the Joint Investigation Team set up by the Defence Headquarters has recommended trial of over 500 suspects arrested in the course of security operations against the Boko Haram terrorists in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states.
Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.
The suspects are among almost 1,400 detainees screened by the team at the detention facilities in Maiduguri, Yola and Damaturu between July and September.
Those recommended for immediate trial include high profile suspects, some of whom were training other terrorists in weapon handling as well as those who confessed to being trained in Mali and other countries for the purpose of perpetrating terror in Nigeria.
Also, among those recommended for trial are a medical doctor, paramilitary or service personnel who were fighting on the side of the terrorists and other individuals who offered direct logistics support to them.
The team, however, recommended the release of 167 of the detainees from detention in Maiduguri, Yola and Damaturu.
About 614 others whose cases were inconclusive were recommended for review.
The report also proposed that some of the detainees should be tried for other offences ranging from armed robbery, murder to drugs related offences.
If the recommendations of the team sail through, the trial of some of the suspects would be held in the states while others may be tried at the federal level by high courts.
Already, the report has since been forwarded to the Presidency through the office of NSA which is in consultation with the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) on subsequent litigation procedures following consideration of recommendations in the report.
Receiving the reports at the Defence Headquarters, the Chief of Defence Staff, Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, an Admiral, commended the team for being thorough in conducting the assignment.
He assured them that the recommendations would be treated with dispatch after due consultations with appropriate authorities.
He said the military authorities would continue to ensure that due process and highest professional standards were followed in managing the security operations in the states covered by the state of emergency proclamation, adding that Defence Headquarters was committed to necessary steps that would ensure justice and fair play.
It would be recalled that the Defence Headquarters in July set up a 19-member Joint Investigation Team of senior officers to screen and categorise detainees apprehended in the course of operations in the North East.
The measure, which was meant to decongest the detention facilities in the area of operations, was also to ensure that necessary processes were set in motion for expeditious prosecution of culpable suspects in the fight against terror.
The team which comprised military, police, officials of federal and state Ministries of Justice as well as Immigration, Prisons and Customs officers, was tasked to examine, classify and recommend appropriate actions against detainees in the various detention centres in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
Source: Daily Independent/
