Boko Haram: FG sends New Anti-Terrorism Bill To The National Assembly

AGF Adoke

The Federal Government has sent a new anti-terrorism bill to the National Assembly in a bid to effectively address the challenges posed by the activities of the Boko Haram sect and other terrorist organisations in the country.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, revealed this in an address at the 52nd Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Abuja.

Adoke said the new bill, known as the Terrorism (Prohibition) Bill 2012, will address identified weaknesses in the country’s current anti-terror laws.

But he did not disclose details of the new bill.

Efforts to find out the difference between the new anti-terrorism bill and the current anti-terror laws were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.

The anti-terrorism bill is one of several new bills sent to the National Assembly by the Federal Government in a bid to strengthen already existing laws.

Adoke said, “We have already submitted to the National Assembly, the Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes, Genocide and Related Offences Bill 2012, to implement the ICC statute and criminalise ICC crimes in Nigeria in our effort to end impunity; the Terrorism (Prohibition) Bill 2012 to address identified weaknesses in our anti-terror laws and the Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill 2012 to curb the scourge of money laundering and specifically criminalise certain conducts, as well as satisfy some of the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force.”

Meanwhile, Presidency on Monday explained that the proposed new bill on anti-terrorism was an amendment to an extant law on the same issue.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, told our correspondent that the idea behind the proposed amendment was to strengthen the extant law and make it more effective.

He said, “It will not be fair to the National Assembly for the Executive arm of government to discuss the details of the amendment on the pages of newspapers or other fora.”