45 Boko Haram members jailed, 468 freed

A Federal High Court  in Kainji, Niger State has sentenced 45 Boko Haram members to between 3 and 31 years in jail, and also freed 468 suspects.

The jailed men were among the  575 Boko Haram suspects arraigned under the first phase of the mass trial of the suspects.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Kainji court also struck out 34 cases  while 28 suspects were remanded for trial in Abuja and Minna.

The Court ordered that the 468 discharged persons should undergo deradicalization and rehabilitation programmes before they are handed over to their respective state governments.

The trial commenced with the formal remand by the Court of 1,669 suspects for a period of 90 days, with the Court ordering that they be arraigned within the specified period or released unconditionally.

The Court adjourned the trial of other suspects to January 2018