Ndume seeks prosecution of terrorists, sponsors

‘FG to deploy Super Tucano jets against bandits, others’

Senator Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno South) has called on the Federal Government to name and prosecute Boko Haram terrorists and their sponsors this year.

Making the call, yesterday, at his Government Reservation Area (GRA) residence in Maiduguri, Ndume noted that the Federal Government prosecuted him for allegedly sponsoring Boko Haram in the North East.

While lamenting his arrest, the senator disclosed that the Department of State Services (DSS) tracked a phone and uncovered a call made by one of the Boko Haram spokesmen.

He stated: “I consequently criticised the security agencies for not doing a proper investigation before subjecting my personality to public ridicule. They were tracking my phone and they said a spokesman of Boko Haram called me. They went ahead to arrest me.

“Why don’t the Federal Government and its agencies prosecute the arrested Boko Haram suspects and their sponsors.”

MEANWHILE, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said the Federal Government is ready to deploy Super Tucano fighter jets against bandits and terrorists.

He also said his office was in the process of gazetting a court judgment that ordered the government to declare bandits as terrorists, adding that the process would be concluded in a matter of days.

Malami spoke yesterday as a guest on NTA Good Morning Nigeria Show.

The military had been reluctant to deploy the aircraft outside the North East because of the conditions attached to the sale by the United States of America, which was anchored on human rights.

The AGF said the coast had become clear to deploy the Super Tucano aircraft against bandits in the North West and North Central, following the court order declaring them as terrorists.

He said: “Now, we are confronted with another threat in the North West associated with banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling and in all these people are using weapons to attack Nigerians, kidnap them and created a situation of serious security challenge and fear in the system.”

“Whatever military hardware you acquire, there are limits within the context of the international convention as to how it can be used, when it can be used and against whom it can be used. That is how the idea of looking at the activities of the bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers come into being.”