The Federal Government has warned that landlords who rent their properties to terrorists and individuals who host preparatory meetings with terrorist groups risk prosecution under the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022.

The Director, Legal Office of the National Security Adviser, Mijinyawa Zakari, said the law criminalised several activities associated with terrorism, including preparatory offences and the provision of support to terrorist groups.

Zakari stated this at a press briefing on the recently concluded 11th phase of trials of terrorism suspects on Tuesday in Abuja.

He explained that providing support to terrorists could attract a minimum of 20-year prison sentence, while renting property to terrorists was also a prosecutable offence.

“A careful reading of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022, will indicate that Sections 11 to 33 provide for a wide range of offences, including preparatory offences.

“The strategy is to ensure that there is dominance across all fields. When you talk about collaborators, you deal with what the investigation has revealed.

“For example, providing support to terrorism attracts a minimum sentence of 20 years. Renting your property to a terrorist is also an offence. You may not have a clear-cut act of terrorism or a harmful act, but all those actions, including holding a preparatory meeting with a terrorist group, constitute offences”.

He urged Nigerians, particularly members of the media and other stakeholders, to familiarise themselves with the provisions of the law to understand the scope of activities classified as terrorism-related offences.

“That is why there is a need for increased awareness of what constitutes a terrorist offence in Nigeria. Reading those sections will really help us.What I would encourage you to do is get a copy of the TPPA 2022 and go through those sections. You will understand the strategy better. This is helpful to both the media and all stakeholders, “he said.

Zakari also warned companies against receiving funds linked to terrorism, saying such transactions could attract severe sanctions regardless of whether the money was eventually used to commit an offence.

“For example, a company that receives terrorist financing, whether or not that money is used for the offence, will be charged a fine of N200m. The principals will be prosecuted, and that company could be wound up,” he said.

He added that the government was strengthening its investigative capacity to ensure that more individuals and organisations involved in terrorism financing and other forms of support were brought to justice.

“As we increase capacity in our investigation and all this, you will see a lot of charges coming, but that is what the law has provided. So, it is a whole strategy that goes after both collaborators, perpetrators, irrespective of the degree,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria has dismissed concerns that defendants facing terrorism charges were being denied access to lawyers of their choice.

The Director-General of the council, Aliyu Abubakar, represented by his Technical Adviser on Counter-Terrorism, Dauda Hassan, said the government had made coordinated efforts to ensure that defendants received legal representation and had their day in court.

He explained that legal aid officials regularly visited defendants at the Kuje Correctional Centre and military facilities to interact with them before their trials.

“It has been a very, very coordinated effort by the current administration to make sure that these defendants get their day in court, and before then, all of them, we all go to Kuje and the military to interview them, have interaction with them under a conducive atmosphere before they are being brought for trial,” Abubakar said.

He also rejected allegations that defendants were prevented from engaging private legal practitioners, saying the council had received several requests from lawyers seeking to take over cases.

According to him, the council does not deny defendants the constitutional right to legal representation of their choice but requires interested private lawyers to obtain clearance from the appropriate authorities.

“All we said is that they should go through the appropriate authority to the DSS, the Director of Federal Prosecution, and then if they give them clearance, they can come and collect the charges from us,” he said.

He added that the council recognised the right of every defendant to choose a lawyer, noting that allegations that defendants were denied access to defence counsel were unfounded.

“Every defendant has the right to his legal practitioner of choice. So, we don’t deny them that right. So, any misconception about them not having interaction with defence counsel is false,” he said.

He further disclosed that defence counsel, with logistical support facilitated through the Office of the National Security Adviser, had been transported by helicopter to Kuje to meet defendants ahead of their trials.