The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has affirmed the verdict of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which sentenced three members of the terror group, Boko Haram to 25 years imprisonment each.
The appellate court, in a judgment delivered on Friday by Justice Y.B Nimpar, rejected the appeal filed by the convicts and upheld the judgment of the lower court, which sentenced Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi and Ibrahim Usman, to 25 years imprisonment each.
The 3 convicted men, who were arraigned before the Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos, for participating in terrorism and belonging to outlawed Boko Haram sect in November 2013, were found guilty in September 2014.
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.
Buba then handed down the verdict after the Lagos State government, through the Ministry of Justice, successfully prosecuted the suspects before the court.
Not happy with the high court’s ruling, the convicts, through their lawyer, subsequently approached the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the judgment, on the grounds that they were charged under inapplicable laws and that the 25 years terms of imprisonment were excessive.
However, the appellate court refused their prayers.
Out of the four persons charged, three were sentenced to 25 years imprisonment each, while the fourth accused was discharged and acquitted.
The fourth accused, Ibrahim Usman Ali, had specifically argued that he was inadvertently convicted and sentenced for a count with which he was not charged.
While the court of appeal agreed that Ali was wrongly convicted under a count with which he was not charged, the court, however, affirmed the judgment of Buba which convicted and sentenced the three others to 25 years imprisonment each.
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