NO fewer than forty-five suspected Boko Haram terrorists are in detention in Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos.
The suspects have been in the prison since the last seven months awaiting trial, following an order by a Magistrate, Mrs. Adeola Adedayo of an Isolo Magistrate Court.
A rights group, the Prisoners’ Rights Advocacy Initiative (PRAI), is urging Amnesty International to carry out an independent investigation of the 45 suspected Boko Haram members arrested in Lagos last year by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), with a view to ascertaining their true status.
The petition, signed by PRAI Director, Ahmed Adetola–Kazeem dated April 5, is entitled: Call for Investigation and Prevention of Rights Abuse of 45 Terrrorism Suspects Detained in Kirikiri Maximum Prison since November.
The petition was also sent to the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
The suspects, whose ages range between 15 and 44 and mostly commercial motorcycle riders, traders, suya sellers, security guards, sachet (pure) water factory workers and indigeners of Borno State, were allegedly arrested last year in various parts of Lagos State by Sarki Mai Mustapha of Ijora and his agents and handed over to officials of Directorate of Security Service (DSS) on the suspicion that they were planning to launch a terror attack on Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, a highbrow area of Lagos.
