A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sentenced three persons to life imprisonment over their complicity in the kidnapping of students and teachers of a school in a rural local government area of Oyo State. The presiding judge, Justice Salim Ibrahim, delivered the verdict and the sentences, bringing the prosecution of the trio to a close after they were arraigned before the court on a raft of charges connected to the abduction.
The three defendants had been charged with conspiracy, aiding the commission of kidnapping, concealment of information about the activities of terrorists, and concealment of information about the abduction itself. In addition, they were accused of professing to be members of a proscribed terrorist group in Nigeria, alongside a number of other counts brought against them by the prosecution.
During the proceedings, the three pleaded guilty to the charges that bordered on concealment of information about the activities of those behind the abduction, and on professing to be members of the terrorist group. However, they pleaded not guilty to counts one, two, three and five. The first defendant, named as Umar, was the only one cited in counts seven, eight, nine and ten, and he pleaded guilty to all four of them.
In passing sentence, the judge imposed the maximum term of life imprisonment on count six and a term of 25 years on count four. The court also handed the first defendant, Umar, life imprisonment on counts seven, nine and ten, together with a 20 year term on count eight, reflecting the individual counts to which he had admitted guilt during the trial.
For the counts to which the defendants pleaded not guilty, the case is not yet over. Justice Ibrahim fixed the 16th of September for the commencement of a full trial on those remaining charges, meaning the men will return to court to answer the allegations they have denied, even as they begin serving the terms already imposed on the counts they admitted.
Reacting to the outcome, the prosecution said the case was meant to reinforce the fight against terrorism and to demonstrate that, within Nigeria's jurisdiction, violent or non-violent crime has no place to stay. It expressed satisfaction with the decision of the court and renewed an appeal to the public to speak up, repeating the message that when people see something, they should say something. The defence was not available to comment on the sentencing.