The Federal High Court in Abuja has convicted a total of 386 terrorists put on trial by the federal government in the last four days of phase 9 trial of terrorists.
The convicted terrorists were sentenced to various jail terms ranging from five years to life imprisonment based on the gravity of the charges against them.
The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN who confirmed this on Friday said that a total of 508 defendants were arraigned before ten courts between Tuesday and Friday.
Briefing journalists at the conclusion of the phase 9 trial, Fagbemi said that eight of the defendants were discharged while two were acquitted from the charges against them.
The Minister of Justice further explained that, a batch of 112 suspects whose cases could not be attended to would be arraigned along with others in the next phase 10 of the mass trial between June 15 and 18, 2026.
He said that the mass trial and the imprisonment of the 386 terrorists will serve as a signal to criminals that Nigeria has no space for heinous crimes like terrorism.
He assured that “part of the consequential order made by judges after the sentencing is that they should go for rehabilitation and re-radicalization.
“This speaks also to the effort of government to ensure that the purpose punishment is also to make you calm and do all that is within our power to make sure that you jettison act of terrorism .
Prince Fagbemi, SAN, praised the ten judges of the Federal High Court for sacrificing their Easter holiday to sit as special courts and in response to a clarion call of the federal government to them.
He commented international organizations, especially Amnesty International, Nigerian Bar Association, National Human Rights Commission and other civil Societies organizations who witnessed the proceedings to ensure that due process of law and transparency took the lead in the trial of the terrorism.
He equally thanked the media for the coverage of the proceedings.