A front-line human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has asked the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, to sanction some Attorneys General he accused of paying lip service to the ongoing war against terrorism and banditry in the country.

According to him, the AGs, for over three years, failed to initiate criminal proceedings against suspected terrorists who were arrested in their various states.

Falana made the disclosure on Wednesday, in a keynote address he presented at an event the NBA organised to commemorate the 2025 International Human Rights Day.

He maintained that such legal inaction was part of the reasons the President of America, Donald Trump, threatened to storm the country “guns-a-blazing,” insisting that the AGs, who are lawyers, have not lived up to expectations.

He said: “The reason us that we, as lawyers, are not serious about challenging unlawful killings in our country. We are not serious.

“In 2016, the Attorney General of the Federation gave Fiat (authority) to all the AGs of States to prosecute terrorism, which is a federal offence.

“Up till today, no AG has ever charged anybody with terrorism in the state. As you are aware, culpable homicide or murder; armed robbery and kidnapping, are state offences.

“But how many state governments are charging people? How many of our members who are AGs are doing so?

“In Benue and Plateau were a lot of reports are oozing out in the country. In fact, killings there were alleged to be the reason why Trump is threatening our country.

“You can quote me, in the last three years, not less than 1000 suspected bandits and terrorists had been arrested and paraded by police in those states.

“Inspite of the fact that some of us have shouted ourselves hoarse, not up to 10 have been prosecuted successfully.

“So, the NBA must call to order and sanction Attorneys General that failed to prosecute terror suspects, bandits and other killers in our country.”

Besides, Falana condemned what he described as illegal detention centers where citizens are subjected to torture, saying “two of them are so notorious, Wawa in Niger state and Tiger Base in Imo state.”

He decried that though illegal activities in the two detention centered were discussed at the last NBA conference, the association had yet to take any concrete action about it.

He stressed that both section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, and section 70 of the Police Establishing Act, made provisions for Magistrates and Chief Judges to visit various detention facilities within their jurisdiction, not less than once every month to review cases, grant bail to those that deserve it, and recommend appropriate sanctions for security operatives that were found wanting.

Falana noted that extant laws in the country mandated every police station to have a lawyer, a requirement he said would further create employment opportunities.

He waved off federal government’s recent order for recruitment of more soldiers and police officers, saying “it is not about the number, but about equipping and motivating serving members of the armed forces and police.”

“On insecurity, the man in charge of our space technology has just come out to reveal that whereas the President approved funds of about N20billion to acquire Satellite Facility in May this year, up till now, the fund has not been released.

” The terrorists now have better Satellite facilities that the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They cab monitor our schools and offices, including the General we just lost, because we don’t have the facility to monitor their own activities.

“So, the NBA must also support the call for the procurement of equipment that will be necessary to fight terrorists.

” Let me concluds by saying that the NBA, we have our job cut out for us. But apart from a few lawyers, we are not prepared yet to defend our people and insist on Section 14(2) © of the Constitution, to the effect that security and welfare of our people shall be the primary purpose of governance.

“The NBA cannot afford to organize conferences of this nature without actualizing the resolutions,” Falana, SAN, added.

While Justice O. A. Obaseki-Osagie, who represented the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, in her goodwill message, tasked the NBA on the protection of rights of Nigerian workers, on her part, the Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Dr. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said there was need for citizens to continue to project the positive image of the country.

In his welcome address, the 1st Vice President of the NBA, Mr. Sabastian Anyia, said the event was organized to amplify some of the human rights issues the country is grappling with.

“Today, we gather as a people, to remind ourselves of the nation we want to become,” he added. (Vanguard)

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