The recent trial and conviction of phase 9 of some suspected terrorists belonging to the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) sects by the federal government will, to a large extent, serve as deterrence to would-be terrorists as well as help deplete the ranks of the blood-thirsty gangs.
On the first day of proceedings, 227 defendants were arraigned before 10 judges of the Special Court session, sitting at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, and Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, led the side of the federal government, while the defendants were represented by lawyers from the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON), led by its Director-General, Aliu Bagudu Abubakar.
Many of the defendants admitted to the offences which they were being charged with, such as providing logistics, food, clothing and other materials to insurgents, including payment of tax known as “Zakat”.
In most of the cases, the court handed down the minimal sentencing of 20 years’ imprisonment, with some bagging the maximum of life imprisonment.
About 500 of the alleged terrorists detained at military facilities in Kainji, Niger state, and Maiduguri, Borno state, had been profiled and cleared for arraignment at the special court, which held from April 7 – 11, 2026.
Fagbemi noted that the trial was not a secret one, adding that international organisations like Amnesty International, civil society organisations, Nigerian Bar Association, international media organisations, as well as local media organisations and some private lawyers, had been invited to witness the proceedings.
The director-general of LACON disclosed that the organisation interfaced with all the defendants in a pre-trial session to help their defence. Abubakar stated that those newly added to the list were interviewed in Abuja before their arraignment.
He observed that many of the defendants pleaded guilty to the charges thereby making the case less cumbersome for the court.
Reacting to the case of the defendants convicted for paying tax to Boko Haram, Abubakar stated, “When you pay money or when you give farm produce to Boko Haram, by way of appeasing them, it is considered to be part of terrorism financing.”
He disclosed that some of the defendants were not active members of Boko Haram and ISWAP but were convicted for association with insurgents.
He said, “Under the law, association is termed as grievous as committing an offence. Some of them were convicted for association. Happily, I can say one or two people have been discharged and acquitted.
“And you can imagine for somebody who has been in detention for close to four or five years under military custody to be discharged and acquitted, it shows that the trial has some level of transparency that is going on.”
In one of the proceedings, Justice Binta Nyako sentenced a major foodstuffs supplier to the Boko Haram terrorists in Borno state, Hamatu Modu, to 40 years’ imprisonment for his involvement in terrorism activities.
Modu had pleaded guilty to all four-count charge filed against him by the federal government.
The court subsequently sentenced him to 10 years on each of the four counts, but due to the plea of the defence counsel, the judge ordered that the 40 years’ imprisonment should run concurrently, giving the convict opportunity to spend only 10 years.
Another food supplier in Borno state, who was also jailed 10 years by Nyako, had his sentencing backdated to three years ago, when he was arrested and detained by the federal government.
The judge ordered that the convicts be made to undergo rehabilitation and de-radicalisation at the end of their jail terms.
In another decision, a father of three, Sheu Buka, was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for selling goats to Boko Haram terrorists in Borno state.
While refusing the plea for leniency made by the convict, the judge held that the issue of terrorism had become worrisome in virtually all parts of the country.
Similarly, a father of six, Hamza Yahuza, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for selling Indian hemps and cigarettes to Boko Haram terrorists in Borno state.
Yahuza admitted in court to committing the offence in 2023 and begged the court for forgiveness. He also admitted supplying various drugs to the terrorists in parts of Monguno local government area of Borno state.
In her judgement, Nyako disagreed that it was poverty that pushed Yahuza into supplying drugs, Indian hemp, and cigarettes to Boko Haram members.
Nyako imposed seven years’ imprisonment on him, but ordered that the sentence should start from March 6, 2023, when the convict was taken into custody.
Blueprint is impressed with the expedited trial and conviction of some of the phase 9 terrorists. The action is a clear signal that terrorism and criminality in any guise will not be condoned or tolerated by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu renewed hope government.
It is, however, our opinion that while the prosecution and conviction of terrorists is a vital component of the counter-terrorism fight, considering its deterrence objective, the federal government should adopt a more aggressive mechanism in order to bring terrorism and its devastating effects on the country to a decisive end.
