Terrorism Suspect Tells Court Boko Haram Will Capture Nigeria

A terrorist suspect who admitted to being a Boko Haram commander told a court in Abuja during trial that his group would capture Nigeria despite their incarceration.

The suspect, Babagana Umar, reportedly made the revelation while facing summary trial in 2018, according to Dauda Hassan, the director of civil litigation at the Legal Aid Council.

Hassan told THE WHISTLER during an exclusive chat on the prosecution of suspected terrorists that the suspects were not afraid to admit their crimes.

Hassan, whose team represented Hussaini Ismaila, a leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month by a Federal High Court in Abuja, said many of the terrorists were unrepentant due to long-term indoctrination by their leaders.

Speaking on his experience, he immediately recalled the case of Umar, whom he directly represented during his trial in 2018.

 “As his lawyer, I asked him whether he regretted his action or if he didn’t know the gravity of the offence he admitted to committing.  But he didn’t understand English, so they translated for him in Kanuri.
They told him his lawyer was trying to tell the judge that he may be innocent.

“But he said no, he didn’t ask the lawyer to do that for him. He said he was responsible for his actions and that even now, if they allowed him, he would go back to Sambisa Forest and continue the fight.

“He said the fact that they were keeping them in detention didn’t mean they had authority over them, that it was just an act of God for now that they had been captured. He said very soon they would move out and take over the country,” he recalled.

He said Umar was immediately sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment in accordance with the terrorism act.

Hassan also recalled the case of another young suspect who admitted to being a commander of the Boko Haram

“There was another suspect who was also a commander who admitted trying to bomb a school in Gombe. He was caught before he could detonate the bomb.

“I asked him whether he knew that there could be Muslims like him in the school he was trying to bomb, and he said if there were Muslims in the school, they must be infidels!”

He said there were over 4000 suspects held in detention, some since 2012, who are still awaiting trial, stressing that the difficulties associated with bringing them to court were responsible for the delay.

He said there are also those in detention who should not be there because they were victims of circumstances and some who had been jailed.

“We also have those who are victims of circumstances. Some of their villages were captured, and they couldn’t move out, and they are being sentenced under Section 8(1) for concealment of information. That they didn’t report even when they knew Boko Haram was in their village.

“But this was at a time when there were no police stations in their communities, no village head, and everyone had run away. So, who are they going to report to? Based on that, they get 10 years in prison, because that’s the minimum. The judge might even sentence you to more because they have already committed a crime by not reporting.

“For supporting terrorism, the act says 20 years. But there are also people whose villages were captured, and they’re made to run errands under duress by Boko Haram, like fetching firewood or water.

“Such actions are interpreted as support for them, and they carry 20 years. Those are the kind of cases we plead allocuturs for them, because we know that some of them are also victims. That was our complaint in court; we felt there should be some mitigation for those types of cases. But none of them have been set free. They were all sentenced,” he explained.

Those who completed their jail terms or were acquitted are sent for deradicalisation at Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe.

AGF Speaks On Convictions

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, last Tuesday disclosed that the federal government has secured the conviction of over 800 terrorists in the last eight years.

Fagbemi also disclosed that nearly 900 alleged terrorists were acquitted within the same period.

He disclosed while speaking with journalists in Abuja, shortly after he hosted the US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Riley M. Barnes and US Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills Jr.

“The one that concerns the Federal Ministry of Justice is about the prosecution of the people arrested in connection with extremism, and we can explain to them and tell them how far we are from what we are also doing. For instance, today, as we speak, the terrorism trial is still going on. I have been there today, and I have taken one or two of the cases, and I want to seize this opportunity to let you know that as of today, that is, from 2017 to 2025, we have secured 860 convictions and 891 acquittals, that is, discharges,” Fagbemi had stated.