BOKO HARAM AND THE LAW: AN APPRAISAL OF THE RULE OF LAW. BASED AND THE SECURITY-BASED APPROACHES TO COUNTERTERRORISM

For several decades, individual states have made legal provisions that govern violent crimes either against the state or its citizens. State’s penal laws painstakingly set out the procedure to be followed by law enforcement agents and prosecutors alike in combating, detection and prosecution of offences taking into account basic rights of suspects and accused as enshrined in the state’s bill of rights and other international legal instruments. In armed conflicts between states, procedure-compliant and comprehensive legal framework with universal application and acceptance has been provided setting standards of behavior before, during and after armed conflict. After September 11th 2001, a major shift occurred in the manner violent crimes of international dimensions were handled. The emphasis now turned to securing the state at all cost without regard to procedure or established rights. This paper therefore discusses the long established rule of law approach vis-a-vis the recently introduced security approach to counter terrorism with a view to establishing their long term efficacy. It proffers suggestions of the possible ways of striking a balance between the urgent need to maintain state security and the important requirements of due process, justice and accountability which the rule of law model espouses.