By Dennis Okosun
AFTER over two years of judicial trial coupled with stringent intelligence and investigative prowess of the Federal Intelligence Bureau (FBI), culminating into what has been described as excellent landmark conviction, Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab will spent the rest of his life in prison as a terrorist.
This brought not too cheery conclusion to family members, friends and members of all terrorist networks across the globe; the feeling of losing a good lieutenant to the walls of a prison yard forever.
By the judgment, Abdulmutallab became the first Nigerian to be convicted of terrorism both in Nigeria and abroad, which in effect is a dent on the country’s image in international diplomacy.
This, again, is a confirmation of growing insecurity orchestrated by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram and other pockets of bombings in the Niger Delta region exemplified by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), in its renewed attacks on economic machinery belonging to oil companies in the country.
However, some security analysts saluted the courage displayed by the U.S. District judge, Nancy Edmonds, of the Federal Court in Detroit, for pronouncing life imprisonment on Abdulmutallab on February 16, 2012.
Abdulmutallab was sentenced for complexity in the attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on December 25, 2009.
Security experts averred that Abdulmutallab’s conviction over terrorism has posed serious challenge to Nigerian judiciary, and a statement that terrorism was a serious issue any court in a serious country could not afford to joke with.
Reacting to the conviction of the young Nigerian, Chief Gabriel Giwa-Amu, a Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, expressed disappointment in the Nigerian judiciary going by the way some persons arrested for acts of terrorism, especially members of the Boko Haram sect, have been handled by the judiciary.
He, however, expressed satisfaction with Abdulmutallab’s conviction.
He said that it is worrisome that some Boko Haram sect cases are being struck out in Nigerian courts.
He explained that for a very serious country that is really committed to tackling terrorism, the Nigerian judiciary has not helped at all in this regard.
Amu said that due to political inclination of some judges, they find it difficult to pass judgment or try suspected members of the sect.
‘I must confess that judiciary in Nigeria has been a disappointment in that regard. I was indeed surprised that some of the suspects in the Boko Haram case were granted bail in Abuja, and some of them have their cases struck out outright.
It leaves a very worrisome thought, because the security apparatus in this country are weak. There must be a reasonable suspicion to warrant the arrest of these suspects, their detention and prosecution.’
He pointed out that it was an aberration in law for a judge to condescend to granting bail to people who were alleged to have direct link with terrorism in the country.
Citing examples of Senator Ndume whom he said is enjoying the benefit of bail, he noted that things like that could not happen in America.
‘Terrorism is a serious offence, a capital offence. So, why will a judge talk about bail or no bail. When an allegation of prima facie is before the court, it is the duty of the court to act judicially and judiciously in the interest of the larger society. So, when a bail is granted like this, it leaves a very sad taste in our mouth.’
Taking a cursory look at the sad incident of Christmas day bombing of a Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State, where over 50 people were killed and many left with various degrees of injuries, he stated that it was enough for any judge not to grant suspects bail.
‘If we look at it from the eyes of judicial discretion, especially the December 25 bombing of a Catholic Church in Madalla near Suleja, it would amount to judicial rascality and wickedness for a judge to grant bail to that person. Why should bail be granted to such person?
There are people that have been in detention for the past four years without bail for minor offences that doesn’t warrant keeping them behind bar for more than 24 hours.
Yet, a terrorist with records of several deaths in his hands is being granted bail. The judiciary is not performing their role dispassionately.
‘There was a person we released who stole a Nokia phone and was kept in custody for two years,’ he said.
He criticised some judges for not resorting to judicial discretion in determining a case, rather, some of these judges base their judgment on tribal, ethnic, political and religious considerations, hence high profile cases like terrorist suspects are often trivialised or at best, granted unwarranted bail.
He added that for so long, some judges base their judgment on sentiment, and that it would be difficult for any Nigerian court to secure conviction that would attract international commendation.
Giwa-Amu reiterated that if Abdulmutallab’s case was decided in Nigeria, there was the possibility that he might have been granted bail before any conviction was secured, stressing that sentencing the young boy to life imprisonment would have been almost impossible here.
‘By the time you take a member of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to a Federal High Court in Abuja, he is regarded as a terrorist because the judge believes he belongs to the old Biafra.
Meanwhile, a judge in Lagos State would grant him bail because he felt he engaged in a peaceful agitation without carrying arms, but a judge in Lagos State may not grant bail to a Boko Haram sect,’ he observed.
The human rights activist posited that President Goodluck Jonathan has a lot to do in terms of security, to arrest the ugly situation of insecurity in the country. He expressed worry over what he considered as the fact that the president has not done enough in this regard.
‘After all, the security agents knew where Kabiru Sokoto was hiding and one expects that they bugged his phone to know who he was calling or the text messages he sent. This is why I challenge Mr. President to tell us who those people are and throw them to the courts of Nigeria people,’ he said.
On the proposed negotiation the Federal Government intends to have with Boko Haram sect as a palliative measure to stem the growing insecurity in the country, the lawyer said that such negotiation would be in the right direction, if they come out to identify who they are, not by pretending to be faceless.
‘Like the militants, they came out with their leaders and asked for resource control, but government made them understand that they can’t have that in totality, but will make sure the region is developed.
‘In all the bad years of the militancy, how many Americans, British or French citizens were killed? The militants knew they would not do anything that would make them be considered in the eyes of the public as hoodlums.
They were more interested in fighting their own battle in a manner, though violent, but they negotiated and got amnesty.
‘In this case,’ he queried, ‘how do you negotiate with a person that says “I want to Islamise Nigeria?” How do you negotiate with a man that says “I don’t want Western education” when he uses cell phone to call people to bomb certain places, use cars laden with bombs, which are all creation of Western world. We don’t make bombs in Africa.’
He challenged the sect members to come out in the open and stop deceiving themselves as been faceless, wondering why the sect, some weeks ago, appointed some four prominent northerners to negotiate on their behalf.
According to him, that was a glaring indication that the sect is ‘acceptable and ascertainable,’ asking how they could they pass instruction to negotiate with them if the people don’t know who they are?
Amu concluded that if the Nigerian judiciary must be able to secure such outstanding conviction of terrorists, corruption, which is ‘endemic’ among the bench, must be eradicated.
He added that there is lot of pretense in the legal profession apart from being a ‘conservative’ one.
He decried a practice whereby the ‘appointment of most of these judges are not based on merit. Some of them have religious colouration, some have friends in high places, some of them are portfolio-carrying businessmen, and some have political affiliations, which impair their impartiality.
‘I have said it before in some public forum that judges should undergo, every three months, psychiatric evaluation because they act excessively,’ he stated.
On his part, Security and Safety analyst, Rotimi Aromolaran said the judiciary has been polluted, with lots of politicking among ‘learned colleagues’ with wigs. He explained that as it stands, Abdulmutallab’s case would not change anything in Nigeria because some judges lack the ‘seriousness and commitment to the discharge of their duties.
‘The life imprisonment to Abdulmutallab is good and would serve as ‘deterrent’ to others that would want to indulge in that act,’ he stated.
Aromolaran reiterated that there is the urgent need to overhaul and revamp the ‘criminal justice administration’ and by extension, reviewing some sections of the constitution.
‘Imagine granting bail to a confirmed terrorist? This ought to be treated as high profile suspects that ordinarily should not be granted such leverage. Until, drastic action is taken in this country, prosecution of criminals would continuously been played upon with levity.
Matthew Aigbe, a psychologist, noted that the life sentence given to Abdulmutallab would serve as veritable opium that would dissuade young Nigerians from engaging in terrorist attacks against humanity.
‘The Boko Haram sect attacks presently is a misnomer and one hopes that young Nigerians would learn a lesson from Abdulmutallab’s ordeals and behave well.
Abdulmutallab, born in Lagos, Nigeria on December 22, 1986, became first Nigerian to be convicted of terrorism.
The Nigerian Islamist terrorist had attempted to detonate plastic explosive hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009.
He confessed to his crime and was convicted of eight criminal count charge, including attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people on board the Delta plane.
Abdulmutallab, attended high school at the British International School in Lome, capital of Togo. He was known as a devout Muslim and for preaching about Islam to his schoolmates.
While at school, he was nicknamed ‘Alfa,’ which is a term for Muslim clerics, and ‘Pope’, due to his piety. He was described as ‘incredibly polite and very hard-working student’.
He was tutored by the late Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim lecturer and spiritual leader and a strong AlQeada, who succumbed to American missile attack in Yemen, last year.
On February 16, 2012, he was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences plus 50 years by a federal court.
‘Allahu akbar’, Abdulmutallab shouted five times during his trial. ‘Muslims are proud to be killed in the name of God and that is what God told us to do in the Quran,’ he said.
