JUST IN: Court jails Chibok girls’ abductor 15 years

The Federal High Court sitting in Wawa Cantonment, Kainji, Niger
State, on Monday sentenced 35-year-old Haruna Yahaya for terrorism
offences.

The convict, whose left arm and left leg are crippled, was
convicted for being a member of the proscribed Boko Haram terrorist
group and participating in the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in
Chibok, Borno State, in 2014.

He was said to have participated in the group’s attacks in
Chibok, Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State and Gabsuri
town in the Damboa Local Government of the state.

Yahaya had on Monday pleaded guilty to the two counts preferred
against him by the Federal Government but pleaded for mercy, saying
he was forcefully conscripted into the terrorist group.

But the judge who sat in one of the four special courts
established by the Federal High Court to fast track the trial of
over 1,000 suspects said the court was “not fooled” by Yahaya’s
story.

The court noted the convict was “using the misfortune of his
handicap to draw sympathy”.

The judge, therefore, ruled that the 15 years sentence passed on
the convict who had been in detention since 2015 would commence
counting from Monday.

The Federal High Court sitting in Wawa Cantonment, Kainji, Niger
State, on Monday sentenced 35-year-old Haruna Yahaya for terrorism
offences.

The convict, whose left arm and left leg are crippled, was
convicted for being a member of the proscribed Boko Haram terrorist
group and participating in the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in
Chibok, Borno State, in 2014.

He was said to have participated in the group’s attacks in
Chibok, Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State and Gabsuri
town in the Damboa Local Government of the state.

Yahaya had on Monday pleaded guilty to the two counts preferred
against him by the Federal Government but pleaded for mercy, saying
he was forcefully conscripted into the terrorist group.

But the judge who sat in one of the four special courts
established by the Federal High Court to fast track the trial of
over 1,000 suspects said the court was “not fooled” by Yahaya’s
story.

The court noted the convict was “using the misfortune of his
handicap to draw sympathy”.

The judge, therefore, ruled that the 15 years sentence passed on
the convict who had been in detention since 2015 would commence
counting from Monday.