Alex Enumah in Abuja
The special courts designated to handle terrorism related cases sitting at the Wawa Military Cantonment in Kainji, Niger State, has sentenced 113 Boko Haram members to jail over their involvement in acts of terrorism.
The defendants who were sentenced to various jail terms were arraigned by the Federal Government, on various charges ranging from membership of the proscribed Boko Haram group, concealing information vital to security agencies, providing support to the sect, participating in acts of terrorism which resulted in the deaths of many persons and murder.
Those sentenced include, one Kabiru Mohammed from Kaban-Magadan, in Funtua, Katsina state. He was accused of receiving training in the use of explosive and other terrorism items. He was also accused of participating in series of attacks in Bama, Kunduga, Baga in Borno State and Damaturu in Yobe State which resulted to lots of deaths in the two states.
According to him, he joined the sect in 2013 and rose to become a leader. He was said to have led others in carrying out attacks as well as instructing them to carry out attack on people and communities.
Mohammed, who disclosed that he voluntarily joined Boko Haram, said, at a time he became tired of the kind of life he was leading and threw away his gun and ran to Katsina State, his home town.
He was arrested in 2015 at a motor park in Katsina.
He pleaded guilty to all the 7-count charge and was consequently sentenced to 30yrs imprisonment with hard labour on each of the counts, which are to run concurrently from the day of his arrest.
Next is one Adamu Mohammed, 22yrs old from Gombe State, who was charged with the murder of six people as well as throwing a bomb at a market place. While he admitted to killing six persons through the use of a short gun, he claimed he threw the bomb in a river and not in a market place.
He was sentenced to 25 full calendar years with hard labour in a maximum prison and without an option of fine.
Details later…
