Court Orders Release of Detained Terror Victim After Sentencing, Jails Another for Withholding Information
Court Orders Release of Detained Terror Victim After Sentencing, Jails Another for Withholding Information
A Federal High Court in Abuja has delivered a mixed ruling in two terrorism-related cases, sentencing one defendant while ordering his immediate release due to time already spent in custody.
Presiding judge, Peter Odo Lifu, handed a nine-year prison term to Ali Kolo, a victim of Boko Haram, for failing to report information about the group’s activities. However, the court ruled that the sentence should take effect from 2017—the year of his arrest—meaning Kolo had already spent more than the required time in detention.
Kolo, who sustained a gunshot injury to his leg during an encounter with the insurgents in Borno State, told the court he was on his way to inform the military about the group when he was attacked. His legal counsel argued that his failure to report the information was due to circumstances beyond his control, as he was hospitalized after the shooting.
The prosecution, led by a representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice, maintained that Kolo breached provisions of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act by not passing on vital intelligence. The court admitted his statement and an investigation report as evidence, both indicating he did not relay the information to authorities.
In his judgment, Justice Lifu acknowledged that while Kolo failed to report the activities, the situation surrounding his injury played a significant role. He noted that the defendant was not convicted of terrorism involvement but strictly for withholding information. The judge further ruled that continued detention would be unjust, ordering Kolo’s immediate release to seek medical attention.
In a separate but related case, the court sentenced another defendant, Ibrahim Buba, also known as Baba Gana, to 10 years imprisonment for a similar offence. Buba admitted knowing members of the terrorist group but failed to report them, opting instead to flee across different states before his eventual arrest in 2023.
Despite pleading for leniency, the court imposed a 10-year sentence on Buba, starting from the date of his arrest.
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