The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced three men convicted over the abduction of students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State to life imprisonment.
Justice Salim Ibrahim ruled that the life sentences of Abdulrazak Umar (alias Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid), Yunusa Musa (alias Yunusa Bin Musa), and Shamsu Adamu Sani (alias Abu Itisar) will take effect from the date of their arrest.
Before sentencing, defence counsel appealed for leniency, urging the court to consider that the defendants were first-time offenders who had pleaded guilty and expressed remorse. The lawyer argued that the offences for which they were convicted did not directly relate to the actual kidnapping, adding that the men were married with children and had elderly parents who depended on them. He urged the court to give them a second chance.
The prosecution, however, opposed the plea for mercy, maintaining that the convicts had prior knowledge of terrorist activities and failed in their duty as citizens by not reporting the information to security authorities.
The defendants pleaded guilty to belonging to a proscribed terrorist organisation and to concealing information relating to the planning and execution of the school abduction.
In addition, the first defendant, Abdulrazak Umar, admitted guilt to four extra counts involving the training of terrorist members, passing operational instructions, and promoting extremist religious ideology.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had arraigned the three Niger State indigenes on a 10-count charge bordering on kidnapping, terrorism, concealment of information, and facilitating terrorist training through a messaging platform.
The court subsequently convicted the trio and sentenced them to life imprisonment, bringing to a close the high-profile terrorism case linked to the Oyo school kidnapping.
