Court jails five men 25 years’ each for terrorism offences

By Taiye Agbaje

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday convicted and sentenced five men, including a Nigerien citizen to 25-years’ imprisonment each for terrorism offences.

Justice Binta Nyako handed down the judgment after the convicts pleaded guilty to the four-count charge preferred against them by the Department of State Services (DSS).

The convicts are Yusuf Mohammed (aka Bature), Goni Ibrahim Bindi (aka Goni Mutuwa), Sani Tulur (aka Danladi), Mubarak Ibrahim and Musa Alhaji Adamu (aka Gado Banufe).

After their guilty plea, the prosecution sought to tender items recovered from the defendants.

With the court’s permission, the prosecution tendered a forwarding letter, accompanied with the investigation report and the statements of the defendants.

The prosecution also tendered 15 units of AK 103 rifles complete with its magazines and 1434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, to which the defence raised no objection.

Justice Nyako admitted the items as exhibits and proceeded to convict the defendants.

The judge then asked the defendants to make a plea of allocutus each, which they did.

The prosecution, therefore, applied that a Volkswagen car, used in transporting arms and ammunition, be forfeited to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In her judgment, Justice Nyako found the defendants guilty as charged and convicted them.

She sentenced them to 25 years each on count one.

On counts two and three, she sentenced the 3rd, 4th and 5th defendants to seven years jail term each while, on count four, only the 1st defendant bagged 25 years imprisonment.

The judge ordered that the sentences shall run concurrently, beginning from the date of their arrest.

She ordered that the convicts should serve their terms of improvement in a place designated by the Minister of Interior.

Justice Nyako equally ordered that the exhibits recovered from them be forfeited to the Federal Government.

In count one, the convicts between April 23 and April 24 were alleged to have committed the offence.

They were alleged to have jointly conspired “to render assistance to a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad.”

Ahmad is said to be a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu LGA of Niger State.

The offence is contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, among other counts.

(NAN)