Nigerian Govt Begins Mass Trial of Suspected Terrorists in Abuja

Thirteen courtrooms at the headquarters of the Federal High Court in Abuja are busy with terrorism cases on Tuesday morning.

The Nigerian government on Tuesday started the mass trial of suspected terrorists charged with terrorism offences at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports previous mass trial of terrorism suspects took place in Kainji in Niger State.

Federal High Court judges are generally on vacation from 7 April (today) till 13 April. Regular court sittings will resume on Tuesday, 14 April across all divisions of the court.

NAN reports that the 13 courtrooms at the headquarters of the Federal High Court in Abuja are busy with terrorism cases on Tuesday morning.

Some of the trial judges are Binta Nyako, Emeka Nwite, Musa Liman, and Akpan Ekerete.

Rotimi Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, led the team of the federal government's lawyers before trial judge Mrs Nyako.

Aliyu Abubakar, the Director General of the Legal Aid Council, led the defence team of lawyers for the 20 suspected terrorists before the judge.

Some of the suspected terrorists listed for hearing before Mrs Nyako include Hamat Modu, Isah Ali, Awal Bello, Shehu Bukar, Alhaji Kulle,, Mohammed Abacha Hassan, Aminami Mallum, Tasiu Yakubu, Abdullahi Ali, among others.

NAN reports that there were heavy security beef-up in and around the Abuja Federal High Court as all roads leading to the court were blocked by armed security personnel while police helicopter hovered around the Central Business District.

This article originally appeared on Premium Times.