The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has revealed that 1,721 suspects have been convicted of terrorism convictions since the commencement of its Mass Trial Programme of the federal government in October 2017.
ONSA Director of Legal Services, Mr Zakari Mijinyawa, disclosed this on Thursday during a joint security news briefing by the spokespersons of the security, defence, and law enforcement agencies in Abuja.
According to him, the programme, coordinated by the ONSA, Federal Ministry of Justice, Judiciary and security agencies, had completed 10 phases of terrorism trials.
He added that programme has also discharged or acquitted defendants where evidence failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, in line with due process and fair trial standards.
He said the first three phases conducted between 2017 and 2018 recorded 366 convictions, 882 discharges, five acquittals and 61 adjourned cases.
Mijinyawa said phases four to eight, conducted between 2023 and 2025, produced 490 convictions, including terrorism financing, international crimes and sexual and gender-based violence cases.
He said that phases nine and 10, conducted in 2026, secured 865 convictions, representing more than half of all terrorism-related convictions recorded since 2017.
According to him, the 2026 convictions exceeded the combined total of 856 convictions secured during the preceding nine years of the programme.
He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring accountability for terrorism offences while upholding constitutional guarantees of fair trial and the rule of law.
However, the Defence Headquarters said the military had neutralised 1,597 terrorists and insurgents and rescued 1,516 kidnapped victims in 14,221 operations conducted nationwide between January and June.
The Director, Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Samaila Uba, represented by Group Capt. Kabiru Ali, said the operations were conducted through coordinated land, air and maritime missions across the country.
Uba said troops also recovered 451 firearms, 16,726 rounds of ammunition, 161 explosives and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), denying criminal groups the means to sustain their operations.
According to him, police dismantled a 33-member criminal network involved in terrorism, cattle rustling and violent attacks in Kwara State and arrested suspects linked to the murder of three police officers in Taraba.
He said operatives rescued a kidnapped woman and her 12-year-old twin sons during an operation on June 6, neutralising two kidnappers and recovering two firearms.
Okokon added that strengthened border security led to the interception of 181 rounds of ammunition along the Abuja-Kaduna corridor and enhanced collaboration with INTERPOL against transnational crimes.
He said police also dismantled a railway vandalism syndicate, recovering about 60 tonnes of vandalised railway materials valued at about N400 million. (NAN)
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