ISWAP Leader Bags 20 Years For Terrorism

A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Hussaini Ismaila, a leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), to 20 years imprisonment for terrorism-related offences.

Justice Emeka Nwite delivered the judgment on Tuesday after Ismaila, also known as Mai Tangaran, pleaded guilty to a four-count charge filed against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to the prosecution, Ismaila coordinated the 2012 terrorist attacks on key security facilities in Kano State, including the Police Headquarters in Bompai, the Mobile Police Base on Kabuga Road, Pharm Centre Police Station, and Angwa Uku Police Station, among others, during which many persons sustained injuries.

Ismaila was arrested on August 31, 2017, at Tsamiyya Babba Village in Gezewa Local Government Area of Kano State and subsequently charged under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013.

His trial, however, experienced delays due to appeals and a trial-within-trial held to determine the voluntariness of his confessional statements.

The prosecution eventually called five witnesses, including DSS operatives and eyewitnesses to the attacks.

Although Ismaila initially pleaded not guilty, he changed his plea to guilty after the testimony of the fifth prosecution witness. His counsel, P. B. Onijah of the Legal Aid Council, pleaded for leniency, saying the defendant was remorseful and did not want to waste the court’s time.

Justice Nwite found him guilty on all counts and sentenced him to 15 years on count one, and 20 years each on counts two, three and four, ordering that the sentences run concurrently starting from the date of his arrest in 2017.

The judge directed the Controller-General of the Correctional Service to confine Ismaila in a facility of choice and ordered that he undergo rehabilitation and deradicalisation programmes after completing his jail term before reintegration into society.