BY Taiwo George
The court of appeal sitting in Lagos on Friday affirmed the judgment of the federal high court, which sentenced three members of the Boko Haram to sect 25 years imprisonment each.
Y.B Nimpar, a justice, rejected the appeal filed by the convicts and upheld the judgment of the court below.
On September 30, 2014, Ibrahim Buba, a justice of the federal high court in Lagos, handed down the verdict after the Lagos state government, through the ministry of justice, successfully prosecuted the suspects before the court.
The 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.
Out of the four persons charged, three were sentenced to 25 years imprisonment each, while the fourth accused was discharged and acquitted.
Those convicted and sentenced are Ali Mohammed Modu, Adamu Ali Karumi and Ibrahim Usman Ali.
Dissatisfied with the verdict, the convicts through their lawyer, had approached the appellate court, asking that the verdict be upturned on the grounds that they were charged under inapplicable laws, and that the 25 years terms of imprisonment were excessive.
One of the convicts, 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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