The Federal High Court sitting Abuja has sentenced a Boko Haram terrorist victim, Ali Kolo, to nine years imprisonment after spending more than ten years in detention.
Kolo, who was shot in the right leg by Boko Haram terrorist in Borno State while going to report the activities of the terrorists to the military, was on Thursday, found guilty of failure to report activities of the dreaded terrorists to security agents by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The Boko Haram victim who, was prosecuted by the federal government on a four-count charge, pleaded guilty to only one count charge which borders on concealment of information on the activities of the terrorists group in Borno state.
Counsel to the federal government, 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 provision of Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2013.
Kaswe, a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Justice tendered the extra-judicial statement where the convict admitted failure to relay information on the terrorism group to the appropriate quarters as well as investigation report which indicted him for refusal to help the federal government in curbing activities of terrorists.
Justice Lifu admitted the two documents as exhibits following a no objection from the defence counsel, Mrs A.O Usman.
The federal government counsel consequently pleaded with the judge to impose a jail term of ten years on the defendant based on his guilty plea and his confession in his statement to the military and the investigation report that indicted him.
However, the defendant who was 37 years 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.
The judge 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 on 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 found guilty only on 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 further 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 in Borno state to the military.
Bubba, also known as Baba Gana, has 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 recognized some of them.
in the two count charge, 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.
The convict pleaded for leniency prompting Justice Lifu to sentence him to 10 years imprisonment as against 20 years demanded by the prosecution.
The judge ordered that the 10 years jail term should start from March 24, 2023 when the convict was arrested and detained.
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