A 22-year-old Boko Haram commander has been sentenced to 60 years imprisonment by the Federal High Court in Wawa Cantonment, Kainji, Niger state. Abba Umar, a commander of the Boko Haram terrorist group was sentenced for various acts of terrorism on Tuesday, February 13.
Punch reports that the 22-year-old, who was remorseless and maintained a hard look throughout the proceedings. He was said to have confirmed that he would return to Sambisa Forest to continue the terrorism acts if he was ever released, the news outlet further reported.
Umar had been in detention since 2014 after his failed mission to commit mass murder in Gombe secondary school, Gombe state, in 2014. The judge who said that the five counts preferred against him attracted death penalty noted that he took into consideration the convict’s age to impose lesser sentences on him.
The judge also noted that the convict must have been exposed to “excessive and consistent religious indoctrination” which made him to be easily pliable. The judge added:
“For count 3, I sentence him to 60 years imprisonment. “I would have been more merciful but was rather dissuaded by the convict’s insistence that he would back the activities which constitute danger to the society and for which he was apprehended.”
During his testimony earlier on Tuesday,February 13, the convict claimed that he married two wives in Sambisa forest after joining the terrorist group. He also described himself as “an Islamic warrior, and a commander in the Islamic army”. The convict who spoke in Hausa and his testimony interpreted in English also confirmed that he had over 100 lieutenants under him.