BREAKING: Three Niger State-Born Suspects Bag Life Sentences Over Abduction Of 39 Oyo Pupils, 7 Teachers
The Federal High Court, Abuja, today Thursday sentenced three suspects in the abduction of 39 students and seven teachers in the Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State to life imprisonment.
The charges showed the defendants, all from Niger State, were accused of knowingly withholding information about individuals linked to terrorist activities, participating in kidnapping, and using a messaging platform to facilitate terrorist training.
According to the court, the sentencing of Abdulrazak Umar, alias Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid; Yunusa Musa, alias Yunusa Bin Musa; and Shamsu Adamu Sani, alias Abu Itisar, would start from the date of their arrest.
Before the sentencing by Justice Salim Ibrahim, counsel for the defendants pleaded with the court to sentence them on liberal terms. He added that they were first-time offenders and had pleaded guilty.
Ibrahim pointed out that this showed that they were remorseful of their actions, and all the counts they were charged with are not related to the kidnapping.
He added that the convicts were married men who have children and have aged parents who are dependent on them. He pleaded with the court to give them a second chance at life and sentence them on liberal terms.
Counsel for the prosecution, however, pointed out that the convicts were aware of the people on the battlefield, and as true Nigerians, they should have reported it to the authorities.
After the charges were read to them, they pleaded guilty to membership of a proscribed terrorist group.
At their arraignment on alleged terrorism at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the three defendants also pleaded guilty to concealing information on the planning and execution of the abduction.
However, only the first accused person, Abdulrazak Umar, alias Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid, pleaded guilty to counts 7, 8, 9 and 10, which bordered on training and passing instructions and inciting terror group members on a particular religious ideology.
The three accused persons were on trial by DSS on a 10-count charge bordering on kidnapping, concealment of information, and terrorism-related offences.
Following their arraignment, they admitted that they concealed information about the masterminds of the school attack.
The defendants also admitted their membership of Darul Salam, which was described as an affiliate of Jamaatu Asarul Muslima Fi Bilandis Sudan (Ansaru), a proscribed terrorist organisation in Nigeria.
However, they maintained their innocence on the remaining counts of the charge.
In view of this development, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who led the Federal Government’s legal team, persuaded the court to sentence the defendants on the counts of the charge to which they pleaded guilty
