FALANA: ARREST AND PROSECUTE BOKO HARAM SPONSORS

Considering the gravity of crimes against humanity being levied against Nigeria’s deadly insurgent group, Boko Haram, President Goodluck Jonathan has been urged to refer suspected sponsors of the group to the Special Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who premised his call on the damning revelations of an international negotiator, Rev Stephen Davies, engaged by President Jonathan to secure the release of the Chibok girls, maintained that: “Any local investigation conducted by the federal government in the circumstance might be manipulated by vested political interests.”
Falana in a statement titled: ‘Arrest and Prosecute Boko Haram Sponsors’ yesterday, said Davies had revealed the identities of the sponsors of the terrorist organisation and that the federal government should take necessary steps if there are no political undertones to the issue.
“In a well-publicised televised interview in London last week, the international negotiator disclosed that a former Governor of Borno State, a former Chief of Army Staff and a former top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria have provided funds and other logistics to the nihilist body for terrorist attacks which had claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people in the country. The disclosure was backed with some detailed accounts which confirmed some information in the domain of the security forces in the country,” he said.
Quoting the words of the Ambassador Usman Galtimari Committee on insurgency, he said it was recommended to President Jonathan that he should start the prosecution of “some politicians, who sponsored, funded and used the militia groups that later metamorphosed into Boko Haram.”
Falana however regretted that while in a White Paper issued on the report of the Committee the federal government accepted the recommendation and directed “the National Security Adviser (NSA) to coordinate the investigation of the kingpins and sponsors to unravel the individuals and groups that are involved, nothing tangible has happened in that direction.
“Although the White Paper was published in May 2012, the directive of the federal government has not been carried out up till now because the individuals involved are said to be connected to the presidency. However, the special envoy of the federal government has just named one of the kingpins and sponsors of the terrorist sect,” he argued.
Source: Thisday