When he came on board as a Minister in the current administration of President Bola Tinubu, he pledged that he would right the wrongs to the best of his ability with regards to the functions of his Ministry.
Many, including myself, did not take him seriously.
His statement was regarded as a “full stop” and matter closed.
This is because Nigerians are inundated with similar statements from his type in the exalted position, but ended up on deficit promising note.
Nigerians are living witnesses to fake pandora box promises of most of their sugar coated tongue leaders especially, the political office holders who would assert fairy tales of making water from the iron and the gullible ones would swallow them as fait accompli.
However, there are exceptions to the rule. There are some Nigerians (though few) who would vow or promise and make the pledge come rain, come sunshine.
On assumption of office as Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) stated unequivocally that he would invigorate and reorganize the Ministry in response to the challenges of the time and accelerate as well the trial of the terrorists and their financiers.
He kept his word as before the shout of Jack Robinson, his Ministry went into surgical operation in terms of re-organization and the commencement of hitherto delayed trial of the terrorists and their sponsors began in earnest with some convictions of the suspects.
For example, a recent statement from the Ministry in Abuja pointed out that amongst others, four sponsors or financiers of terrorism have been convicted.
The statement contained in The Punch of Tuesday December 5, 2023, page 5 captioned, “366 Boko Haram terrorists convicted four financiers jailed – AGF,” reads in parts: “The Federal High Court sitting in Dawaki, Abuja, on Monday, convicted four Boko Haram financiers. They are Modu Aisami, Zana Zarama, Umar Mohammed and Bunu Kame. The office of the Attorney General of the Federation disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
“The AGF’s Special Assistant on Communication and Publicity, Kamarudeen Ogundele, said the prosecution team led by the AGF, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), secured the convictions in separate cases before Justice Binta Nyako and Justice Emeka Nwite.
“He said the defendants pleaded guilty to the charges and begged the court for leniency.
“The defence counsel was led by the Director, Criminal Justice in Legal Aid Council, F. A. Bakre.
“According to the charge filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, M. B. Abubakar, Aisami provided funds for the terrorist group by buying food products from the group, having reasonable grounds to believe that the proceeds would be used to commit a terrorist act, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 13(1)(a)(ii) of the Terrorism Provision Amendment Act, 2013.”
Ogundele said Justice Nyako convicted the defendant having pleaded guilty to counts 2 and 3.
“Thereby sentence the convict to 20 years imprisonment for each of the offences. They are to run concurrently,” Nyako was quoted to have ruled.
“The Ministry’s effort which is commendable must be prosecuted to logical conclusion as this is one step among others to halt the onslaught of terrorism”
He said the judge also convicted Zarama and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment for concealing the identity of a Boko Haram member, Modu Sulum.
Ogundele said Justice Nyako added that the jail terms should run from the day the convicts had been in custody.
Justice Nwite, in another trial, convicted the duo of Umar Mohammed and Bunu Kame and sentenced them to 10 years imprisonment.
Meanwhile, the AGF, also in Niger State, disclosed that the Federal Government secured a total of 366 convictions in the trial of Boko Haram terrorists that was conducted in 2017.
He added that 896 suspects were discharged for lack of evidence while 61 other cases were subsequently adjourned for further hearing.
Rightly or wrongly, it can be argued that the speedy efforts for results and honour to his words by Prince Lateef Fagbemi is in strict contrast to the disposition of his predecessor in Office, Abubakar Malami (SAN) who pledged to bring to book high profile Nigerians and institutions financing terrorism, but reneged. The report contained in the Leadership newspaper of Saturday May, 2021 captioned “High Profile Nigerians, Institutions Financing Terrorism – FG” states in parts: “The Federal Government has accused some high profile Nigerians and institutions of financing terrorism in the country. Attorney-General of the federation and minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), stated this yesterday while speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential villa.
“Malami said the government was already profiling for persecution of well placed Nigerians who, according to him, have reasonable grounds to be suspected of being financiers of terrorism in the country.
“He confirmed that the arrest of the undisclosed number of suspects followed the recent convictions of some Nigerians on terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirate (UAE).
“He said ongoing investigations had given reasonable grounds to prosecute the high profile persons and institutions across the country.
The AGF hinted: “As you actually know, sometimes back there were certain convictions of Nigerians allegedly involved in terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That gave rise to wider and far-reaching investigations in Nigeria.
“And I’m happy to report that arriving from the wider coverage investigation that has been conducted in Nigeria. A number of people, both institutional and otherwise, were found to be culpable. I mean on reasonable grounds for suspicion of terrorism financing have been established, or perhaps have been proven to be in existence in respect of the transactions of certain higher profile individuals and businessmen across the country.
“I’m happy to report that the investigation has been ongoing for a long time and it has reached an advanced state. Arriving from the investigation, there exists, certainly, reasonable grounds for suspicion that a lot of Nigerians, high profile, institutional and otherwise, are involved in terrorism financing and they are being profiled for prosecution.
“In essence, it is indeed true that the government is prosecuting and it’s indeed initiating processes of prosecuting those high profile individuals that are found to be financing terrorism. It is indeed true.”
Unfortunately, there appeared silence from Abubakar Malami after this statement.
The seriousness depicted by President Bola Tinubu’s administration in taming the insurgency as reflected in the speedy disposition of the Ministry of Justice gives hope to Nigerians in the government’s efforts to end the terror war.
The Ministry’s effort which is commendable must be prosecuted to logical conclusion as this is one step among others to halt the onslaught of terrorism.
•Izekor writes from Maiduguri, Borno State
