Lagos court jails B’Haram financier for 10 years

A federal high court sitting in Lagos has sentenced a major financier of Boko Haram to 10 years in prison.

The convict was said to have been the brain behind the international bond that the sect recently established with some foreign terrorist organisations.

The Boko Haram financier was among four suspects – Adamu Mohammed, Mohammed Mustapha, Bura Husseni and Mohammed Ibrahim – secretly tried before Justice Saliu Saidu by the Department of State Security (DSS). The jailed suspect was not officially named but he is believed to be the third accused person(Bura Husseni).

Efforts by journalists to get details of the allegations against the suspects and other details about the conviction were unsuccessful, as no one was willing to divulge the information. But it was gathered that one of the suspects was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail for sponsoring the sect. Justice Saidu released the three others.

The suspects were said to have been prosecuted by Mr P Okerinmodu on behalf of the government.

When the suspects were brought in to the courtroom under heavy security, all other people in court were ordered out, except the lawyers, court registrars and the judge.

Last month, Justice Ibrahim Buba, also of the federal high court in Lagos, sentenced three Boko Haram members to 25 years in prison each, after finding them guilty of belonging to the outlawed fundamentalist group.

The suspects were arrested in Lagos on March 21 with explosives and other dangerous items while planning to attack the city.

In the charge against them, the prosecution alleged that the accused persons committed the offences at Plot 5, Road 69, Lekki Phase I Housing Estate, and No. 24, Oyegbeni St., Ijora-Oloye, Apapa-Iganmu, Lagos.

Their trial was conducted in camera pursuant to application by the prosecuting authority, the Lagos state government, that there was need to protect the witnesses in the case.

Justice Ibrahim Buba gave his judgment in secret and pronounced the three convicts guilty of the terrorism charges.

The 17 suspects initially charged were arraigned before Justice Buba on 18 counts of conspiracy to commit terrorism, illegal possession of firearms, and being members of a proscribed organisation.

They are Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi, Ibrahim Usman, Bala Haruna, Idris Ali, Mohammed Murtala and Kadiri Mohammed.

Others are Mustapha Daura, Abba Duguri, Sanni Adamu, Danjuma Yahaya and Musa Audu and Mati Daura, Farouk Haruna, Abdullahi Azeez, Ibrahim Bukar and Zula Diani.

But the case was discontinued against all the accused except the first four.

Of the four, Haruna was discharged and acquitted on the ground that the government failed to prove the allegation of terrorism funding against him.

Haruna was alleged to have agreed to provide funds to facilitate the escape of the first convict, Ali Mohammed, from detention. However, Justice Buba sentenced the first three accused persons – Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi and Ibrahim Usman – to 25 years imprisonment each for participating in acts of terrorism.

They were alleged to have been caught in possession of three packets of explosive construction pipes, 15 detonators, and 11 AK47 rifles with 30 rounds of live ammunition.

The other items allegedly found in their possession were 200 rounds of 7.6 milimetres live ammunition, two suitcases containing explosives, and a water container filled with explosives.

According to the prosecution, the offences contravened provisions of Sections 13(2) and 17(b) of the Terrorism Act 2013 and Sections 1, 8, 27 (1) (a) and (b) of the Firearms (special provisions) Act, Cap F28, Laws of the Federation, 2004. he said they were punishable under Section 8 of the same act.