Justice Peter Odo Lifu of the Abuja Federal High Court has sentenced a Boko Haram terrorist victim, Ali Kolo, to nine years imprisonment after more than ten years in the detention.
Kolo, who was shot in the right leg by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State, was on Thursday found guilty of failure to report activities of the dreaded group to security agents.
The Boko Haram victim was put on trial by the Federal Government on a four-count charge but pleaded guilty to one count which bordered on concealment of information on the activities of the terrorist group in Borno State.
A Federal Government lawyer, Mr. David Kaswe, who led the prosecution, told Justice Lifu that the defendant in 2017 failed to convey information on the activities of the terrorists to the military or any other security agency as required by the provisions of Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2013.
The lawyer, a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice, tendered the extra-judicial statement where the convict admitted failure to relay information on the terror group to the appropriate quarters as well as an investigation report which indicted him for refusal to help the Federal Government in curbing the activities of terrorists.
Justice Lifu admitted the two exhibits following no objection from the defence counsel, Mrs A.O Usman.
The Federal Government lawyer, consequently, pleaded with the judge to impose a jail term of 10 years on the defendant based on his guilty plea, and his confession in his statement to the military, as well as the investigation report that indicted him.
However, the defendant who was 37 years old when the terrorists shattered his right leg with bullets, informed the court that he was shot with an AK-47 gun while on his way to report the terrorists to the military.
The defendant, through his lawyer, Mrs Usman, explained that his journey to report the terror group was cut short because he landed in the hospital as a result of the gun injury and pleaded with the judge to be lenient with him.
In his judgement, Justice Lifu agreed that the defendant didn’t report the activities of the terror group to the military but held that it was due to circumstances beyond the control of the convict.
Justice Lifu consequently, sentenced him to nine years imprisonment and ordered that the sentence should start from 2017 when the defendant was arrested and clamped into detention.
Justice Lifu held that by prison law, the convict had already spent more than 10 years in detention and must therefore be immediately released from custody to enable him attend to his injury occasioned by Boko Haram gun shots.
Although the government lawyer expressed reservation at the verdict of the court, Justice Lifu stood his ground that the convict was not found guilty for Boko Haram membership or training in weapons but was convicted only for concealment of information.
The judge held that the convict had suffered enough and must be released immediately upon his signing of warrant for his release, adding that keeping him in prison would amount to double jeopardy.
In another development, Ibrahim Buba, a Borno State based bricklayer, was jailed 10 years for failure to relay information on the activities of Boko Haram to the military.
Bubba, also known as Baba Gana, had in his defence claimed that he ran from Borno to Mubi in Adamawa State and later to Onitsha in Anambra State when the terrorists were after his life, having recognised some of them.
The convict admitted knowing two of the terrorists and that he did not pass information to the military and instead ran to Onitsha where he was apprehended in 2023 while engaging in bricklaying job.
He pleaded for leniency, prompting Justice Lifu to impose a 10 years sentence on him as against 20 years demanded by the prosecution.
Justice Lifu ordered that the 10 years jail term should start from March 24, 2023, when the convict was arrested and detained.
