Anyone facing prosecution for terrorism and financial crimes, will not be given the opportunity of a plea bargain, Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami has said.
Malami made the statement on Tuesday when he met with members of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group in Abuja.
He assured the activists that the government is doing everything to bring all criminal to book and the government has vowed not allow criminal cases to be compromised.
“The office of the Attorney General of the Federation will not advocate plea bargain for anyone,” Malami said.
He also revealed that the government is making moves to audit high profile cases that have been compromised in the past.
He also talked about the cases of soldiers who were accused and subsequently jailed for cowardice in the prosecution o the war against Boko Haram. At that point, the BBOG group pleaded on behalf of the soldiers, asking that they should be reinstated.
Led by BBOG’s Co-convener, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, the group presented several issues before the Attorney General, including an immediate recall of the military men who were jailed for cowardice at the war front without arms.
The Nigerian Army had months ago arraigned 71 soldiers on several count charges including criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to commit mutiny, insubordinate behaviour and false accusation.
They were tried and discharged on some charges but found guilty and convicted on other charges including mutiny.
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Five of the soldiers were discharged and acquitted while one was sentenced to 28 days in prison with hard labour.
