Attorney-General of the Federation Lateef Fagbemi says 653 defendants have been convicted during the latest phase of terrorism trials at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Seven others were acquitted and 27 discharged, he said in a progress update on Friday, 23 October.
The figures are provisional. Fagbemi said 1,060 suspects had been brought before the court for the exercise, which was scheduled to run from 19 to 24 October. He promised a final account after the proceedings concluded.
His update put the number of cases heard at 880. The convictions, acquittals and discharges he identified total 687, leaving the published figures short of a complete breakdown of those cases. The outstanding outcomes were not explained in the accounts of his briefing.
Fagbemi described the current sessions as the third phase held this year and the eleventh since the mass trials began. He also characterised the exercise as the largest so far. Those assessments were made while the courts were still hearing cases, rather than after a final reconciliation of the results.
“But by tomorrow, when we finish, I will be able to give, or we will be able to give, the final figure,” he said, according to Punch’s report of the briefing.
The minister credited judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and security agencies with supporting the proceedings. He acknowledged Justice Binta Nyako’s coordinating role on behalf of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho.
Institutions he named included the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Department of State Services, the military, the police, correctional authorities and the Legal Aid Council. He said their cooperation had helped the prosecution of terrorism, terrorism financing and related offences.
He said the Legal Aid Council was providing assistance to eligible defendants. On defence representation, Fagbemi said lawyers from the Legal Aid Council were working alongside private legal practitioners. He said counsel had met defendants before their court appearances, visited detention facilities and prepared their cases. Channels Television reported his explanation that security considerations limited public access to some of those preparatory activities.
Nairametrics, which reported attending the briefing and monitoring proceedings, identified Justices James Omotosho, Salim Ibrahim and Binta Nyako among the judges hearing cases. It reported that several defendants pleaded guilty to concealing information about Boko Haram activities.
The outlet recorded prison terms of 45 years for one defendant and 12 years for another before Justice Nyako. It also reported that defendants who denied the charges were remanded for further trial. Those individual accounts do not provide a sentencing breakdown for all 653 convictions announced by the minister.
Fagbemi separately discussed rehabilitation for people recommended for deradicalisation by the court. He said the process was intended to support reintegration and reduce the risk of a return to extremist activity. His remarks concerned the wider rehabilitation programme, alongside the criminal proceedings.
The minister’s announcement covered an ongoing round of trials, rather than a completed national total. He said the final figures would follow the end of the exercise scheduled for Saturday, 24 October.
Archive photograph: Jummy001, Federal High Court headquarters, Abuja, 29 July 2026. It does not show the October trials or any defendants. Source, CC BY-SA 4.0. Display versions may be resized or cropped; prepared photographic adaptations retain the same licence.
