The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has handed a nine-year prison sentence to Ali Kolo, a victim of the Boko Haram insurgency, for failing to report terrorist activities after spending more than a decade in detention.
Delivering judgment, Justice Peter Lifu found Mr Kolo guilty of not informing authorities about the activities of the insurgents.
The defendant had earlier told the court that he was a victim of the insurgency, stating that he sustained a gunshot wound to the leg in Borno while trying to alert authorities about the terrorists.
The federal government arraigned Mr Kolo on four counts, but he admitted guilt to one charge relating to withholding information on Boko Haram operations in Borno State.
Prosecuting counsel, David Kaswe, informed the court that the defendant did not disclose vital information to security agencies as mandated by the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2013. He submitted the defendant’s extra-judicial statement and an investigation report as evidence.
The court admitted both documents without objection, reinforcing the claim that Mr Kolo did not support authorities in tackling terrorist activities. The prosecution further argued that he deliberately withheld critical information from security agencies in 2017 and urged the court to impose a 10-year custodial sentence based on his guilty plea.
Defence counsel, A.O. Usman, however, told the court that Mr Kolo’s failure to report was due to circumstances beyond his control, explaining that he had been shot and hospitalised while attempting to pass on the information.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu acknowledged that although the defendant failed to report the terrorists, his omission was influenced by factors outside his control, including the injury he sustained.
The judge sentenced him to nine years’ imprisonment but ordered that the sentence take effect from 2017, the year of his arrest and detention. He noted that Mr Kolo had already spent more time in custody than the sentence imposed and consequently directed his immediate release to enable him to seek medical care.
Justice Lifu emphasised that the conviction was not for terrorism or membership of Boko Haram but strictly for concealment of information about the group’s activities. He added that further detention would amount to double jeopardy, stressing that the defendant had endured sufficient punishment and should be released after completing necessary formalities.
In a separate but related case, the court also sentenced Ibrahim Buba, a bricklayer, to 10 years in prison for failing to disclose information linked to Boko Haram activities.
Mr Buba admitted that he knew certain members of the group but did not report them, explaining that he fled from Borno to Mubi and later relocated to Onitsha to escape threats.
According to the prosecution, he was apprehended in 2023 while working in Onitsha and pleaded guilty to charges of withholding information from security agencies about terrorist activities in his area.
The court subsequently sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment, with the term commencing from March 24, 2023, after reducing the 20-year sentence earlier sought by the prosecution.
Meanwhile, the federal government on Tuesday commenced a mass trial of individuals suspected to be involved in terrorism-related offences.
