Court Jails 4 Boko Haram Food, Drug Suppliers 77 Years

The federal government yesterday began the prosecution of suspected Boko Haram terror suspects at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

The trial will cover 500 terror suspects implicated in a series of terror attacks against the country.

At yesterday’s session, Justice Binta Fatima Nyako sentenced one of the major food suppliers to the terrorists in Borno State to 40 years. The accused, identified as Hamatu Modu, confessed in the open court to supplying food items and information to terrorists and was put on trial by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), supported by the director of the Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), who led the prosecution team.

The director of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Mr Aliu Bagudu Abubakar, led the defence team with support from other lawyers.

Modu was charged with four counts and pleaded guilty to them.

In her judgment, Justice Nyako sentenced him to 10 years on each of the four counts, but, at the defence counsel’s plea, the judge ordered that the 40-year imprisonment run concurrently, giving the convict the opportunity to serve only 10 years.

In another development, Isah Ali, another food supplier, also in Borno State, was jailed for 10 years by Justice Nyako.

His jail term will, however, start three years ago when he was arrested and clamped into detention.

The convict confessed to committing the offence as charged.

Justice Nyako ordered that the convicts undergo rehabilitation and radicalisation at the end of their jail terms.

The Federal Ministry of Interior was ordered to determine where the convicts will serve their jail terms.

In a related development, the court sentenced a father of three children, Sheu Buka, to 20 years imprisonment for selling goats to Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State.

Buka, who was put on trial on 5 counts by the federal government, admitted in open court and in his extrajudicial statement that he committed the offence.

Following his denial of four other charges, the federal government withdrew those charges, leaving him to count only three.

Justice Nyako, after reviewing the confessional statement and admission of guilt in open court, as well as the investigation report, convicted the defendant and sentenced him to 20 years.

The judge refused the plea for leniency made by the convict, adding that the issue of terrorism has become worrisome in virtually all parts of the country.

According to the court, rendering support to terrorists is a serious offence that must not be condoned.

Similarly, a father of six children, Hamza Yahuza, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for selling Indian hemp and cigarettes to Boko Haram terrorists in Borno.

Yahuza admitted in the open court to committing the offence in 2023 and begged the court profusely for forgiveness.

The convicts were among the over 500 persons brought to various courts for trial by the justice minister.

He also admitted supplying various drugs to the terrorists in parts of the Monguno local government area of Borno.

In the one-count charge, the 40-year-old convict, upon confession, sought leniency, which Justice Nyako rejected.

The judge also rejected the claims that it was poverty that pushed him into supplying drugs, Indian hemp and cigarettes to the Boko Haram members.

Justice Nyako imposed a seven-year imprisonment on him, but ordered that the sentence should commence from March 6, 2023, when the convict was apprehended and clamped into detention by the government.

The trial of the suspects continues today.

They were said to have been part of terror attacks in the northern part of the country, where over 2,000 Nigerians have been killed and property worth billions of naira destroyed.

Others were accused of aiding and abetting the heinous crime through direct and indirect sponsorship with either finance, arms and ammunition, as well as foodstuffs and supplies.

While confirming the government’s decision on the trial, Fagbemi revealed that a total of 227 suspects were put on trial before 10 judges of the Federal High Court.

To ensure that the trial was transparent and due process of law was followed, he said that the government brought in representatives of international bodies, Amnesty International, human rights associations, and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to witness the proceedings.

The suspects were brought to court in loads of trucks with heavy security provided by well-armed soldiers, operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) and police personnel.