COURT of Appeal sitting
in Lagos had affirmed the judgment of a Federal High Court in Lagos which
convicted and sentenced three members of the dreaded Islamic terrorist group, Boko
Haram to 25 years imprisonment each.
In a judgment delivered
by Justice Y.B Nimpar, the appellate court rejected the appeal filed by the
convicts and upheld the judgment of the court below stating that the decisions
were meritorious.
Justice Ibrahim
Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos had on September 30, 2014, gave the
verdict after the Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Justice
prosecuted the terrorists before the court.
Those convicted and
sentenced are Ali Mohammed Modu, Adamu Ali Karumi and Ibrahim Usman Ali.
The state
government had filed charges against four accused persons for conspiracy to
commit a felony to wit: acts of terrorism, concealing information about acts of
terrorism and having possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition contrary
to various sections of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013 and the
Firearms Act, Cap F.28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Dissatisfied with the
ruling, the convicts approached the Appeal Court in Lagos, seeking to set aside
the verdict on the grounds of strange and inapplicable laws, and also argued that
the 25 years terms of imprisonment were excessive.
One of the convicts,
Ibrahim Usman Ali, had specifically argued that he was inadvertently convicted
and sentenced for a count with which he was not charged.
However, the Court of Appeal while
admitting that one of the convicts had a good case as one of the counts he was
convicted upon was not properly charged as contended, nevertheless, the appellate court affirmed
the verdict of the trial court against the terrorists which was pegged at 25 years jail term each.
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