Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, sentenced a Boko Haram victim, Ali Kolo, to nine years’ imprisonment after over a decade in detention, but ordered his immediate release.
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Kolo, who was shot in the right leg by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State while attempting to report their activities to the military, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about the terrorist group to security agencies.
He was arraigned by the Federal Government on four counts but pleaded guilty to a single charge bordering on concealment of information on terrorist activities.
The prosecution counsel, David Kaswe, told the court that the defendant, in 2017, failed to relay information on insurgents’ activities to the military or any security agency, contrary to the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2013.
Kaswe, a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice, tendered the defendant’s extra-judicial statement and an investigation report, both of which indicted him. The exhibits were admitted without objection from defence counsel, A.O. Usman.
The prosecution subsequently urged the court to impose a 10-year jail term on the defendant, citing his guilty plea and confessional statement.
However, Kolo told the court that he was attacked and shot with an AK-47 rifle while on his way to report the insurgents, leaving him hospitalised and unable to fulfil the obligation.
His counsel pleaded for leniency, arguing that his failure to report the terrorists was due to circumstances beyond his control.
In his judgment, Justice Lifu agreed that the defendant failed to report the activities of the insurgents but held that the omission was influenced by factors beyond his control.
The judge sentenced him to nine years’ imprisonment but ruled that the sentence should take effect from 2017, when he was first detained.
He noted that the convict had already spent over 10 years in custody and ordered his immediate release to enable him to seek medical attention for injuries sustained during the attack.
Despite reservations expressed by the prosecution, the court maintained that Kolo was not convicted for terrorism or membership of a terrorist group, but solely for concealment of information.
Justice Lifu held that the defendant had “suffered enough” and warned that continued detention would amount to double jeopardy.
In a related development, the court sentenced a Borno State-based bricklayer, Ibrahim Buba, also known as Baba Gana, to 10 years’ imprisonment for failing to disclose information on Boko Haram activities.
Buba admitted in court that he knew two members of the terrorist group but failed to report them. He told the court that he fled from Borno to Mubi in Adamawa State and later relocated to Onitsha, Anambra State, where he was arrested in 2023.
He pleaded for leniency, but the court sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment, rejecting the prosecution’s request for a 20-year term.
Justice Lifu ordered that the sentence should take effect from March 24, 2023, the date of his arrest and detention.
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