Court Slams 20-year Jail Term On Terrorist Kingpin

One of the leaders of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for alleged terrorism, Hussaini Ismaila, has been convicted of offences of terrorism.

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced Ismaila to 20 years imprisonment in a judgment delivered after Ismaila, a.k.a. Mai Tangaran pleaded guilty to a four-count terrorism charge brought against him by the secret police.

The prosecution said Ismaila was the coordinator of the 2012 attacks on Police Headquarters in Bompai, Kano State; Mobile Police Base, Kabuga Road, Kano State; Pharm Centre Police Station, Kano State; Angwa Uku Police Station, Kano State, among other places, in which many were injured.

Shortly after his arrest on August 31, 2017, at Tsamiyya Babba Village, Gezewa LGA, Kano State, Ismaila was arraigned on a four-count charge brought under the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013.

The trial suffered delays resulting from appeals and the conduct of a trial-within-trial to, among other things, ascertain the voluntariness of the defendant’s extra-judicial statements.

When trial eventually opened, the prosecution called five witnesses including two DSS officials and two eyewitnesses to some of the attacks.

Ismaila, who had earlier pleaded not guilty during his arraignment, changed his plea to guilty after the testimony of the fifth prosecution witness.

Subsequently, defendant’s lawyer, P. B. Onijah from the Legal Aid Council (LAC) pleaded with the court to be lenient with the defendant.

Onijah said Ismaila was remorseful and changed his plea to avoid wasting the court’s time and regretted being involved in terrorism.

Justice Nwite, in his judgment, found Ismaila guilty of the offences as charged and sentenced him to 15 years in relation to count one; and 20 years on counts two, three and four.

The judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently, while the sentencing shall begin to run from the date of his arrest on August 31, 2017.