{"id":2210,"date":"2014-10-01T06:26:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T06:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=2210"},"modified":"2014-10-01T06:26:32","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T06:26:32","slug":"boko-haram-terrorists-tried-in-secret-jailed-for-75-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=2210","title":{"rendered":"Boko Haram terrorists tried in secret, jailed for 75 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alleged<\/a>
Alleged Boko Haram members<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday convicted three persons for participating in acts of terrorism and being members of\u00a0\u00a0 the outlawed Boko Haram sect.<\/p>\n

The convicts \u2013 Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi and Ibrahim Usman \u2013 will collectively spend 75 years in jail.<\/p>\n

The trio were among the 17 suspected insurgents arraigned before Justice Buba on\u00a0\u00a0 eight counts of conspiracy to commit terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and being members of the violent sect.<\/p>\n

Arraigned along with them but discharged\u00a0\u00a0 before the conclusion of the\u00a0\u00a0 trial were\u00a0\u00a0 Bala Haruna, Idris Ali, Mohammed Murtala, Kadiri Mohammed, Mustapha Daura, Abba Duguri and Sanni Adamu.<\/p>\n

Others were Danjuma Yahaya,\u00a0\u00a0 Musa Audu,\u00a0\u00a0 Mati Daura, Farouk Haruna, Abdullahi Azeez, Ibrahim Bukar and Zula Diani.<\/p>\n

Efforts by one of our correspondents to find out the reason for their discharge yielded no result because the trial had since it started in November 2013 and ended on Tuesday was in secret.<\/p>\n

It was gathered that the Attorney-General of Lagos State and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, had, by nolle prosequi,<\/em> discontinued criminal proceedings against some of the accused, hence\u00a0\u00a0 their discharge .<\/p>\n

On Tuesday only Muhammed, Karumi, Usman and Haruna were brought before Justice Ibrahim Buba for judgment.<\/p>\n

The judgment was also delivered in camera but a source who witnessed the proceedings later gave journalists the facts\u00a0\u00a0 on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

He said that before delivering the judgment,\u00a0\u00a0 Buba\u00a0\u00a0 ordered journalists, litigants and lawyers in other matters to vacate the courtroom.<\/p>\n

The judge, who had earlier announced that the judgment would be given at 12pm, first sought the views of the lawyers on the position of\u00a0\u00a0 law on\u00a0\u00a0 giving the verdict in the open court or in camera.<\/p>\n

The Lagos State Director of the Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Idowu Alakija, according to the source, had responded by saying that since the trial was conducted in camera for security reasons, judgment should also be given in the same manner.<\/p>\n

But Buba, who said that even judges learn every day, insisted that he would like to know what the law stipulates about giving judgment in camera and how his colleagues in Abuja normally handle such cases.<\/p>\n

Saying that he would like to do a short research on the subject, he rose at about 11.30am with a promise to return by 12pm.<\/p>\n

At the resumed hearing at 12pm, the judge again asked the parties to address him on the legality of giving judgment in camera.<\/p>\n

Ipaye responded by saying that if the trial was conducted in secret, the judgment should also be delivered in secret .<\/p>\n

The legal team of the defence maintained the same position.<\/p>\n

Buba subsequently ordered everyone, except the parties and the security operatives, to vacate the courtroom .<\/p>\n

Journalists had approached the Deputy Chief Registrar and the Administrative Head of the Court, Mr. Bello Okandeji, to complain of their being barred from hearing the verdict .<\/p>\n

Okandeji then led journalists to the court but security men\u00a0\u00a0 told the DCR that they had specific instructions not to allow anyone in.<\/p>\n

Mohammed, Karumi and Usman were tried on offences bordering on terrorism said to have been committed on March 21, at Plot 5, Road 69, Lekki Phase I Housing Estate, and No. 24, Oyegbeni St., Ijora-Oloye, Apapa-Iganmu, Lagos.<\/p>\n

They were said to have been caught in possession of three packets of explosive construction pipes, 15 detonators, and 11 AK47 rifles with 30 rounds of live ammunition.<\/p>\n

The other items said to have been found in their possession were 200 rounds of 7.6 milimetres of live ammunition, two suitcases containing explosives, and a water container filled with explosives.<\/p>\n

According to the prosecution, the offences contravened the provisions of Sections 13(2) and 17(b) of the Terrorism Act 2013 as well as Sections 1, 8, 27 (1) (a) and (b) of the Firearms (special provisions) Act, Cap F28, Laws of the Federation, 2004.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Military devises new strategy to halt\u00a0\u00a0 B\u2019Haram\u2019s expansionist drive <\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the military\u00a0\u00a0 has evolved a new strategy of restricting Boko Haram insurgents to the areas they\u00a0\u00a0 captured in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0\u00a0 source said the military was aware of the insurgents\u2019 plan\u00a0\u00a0 to use old people and children in their captured territories as human shields.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cAt the moment,\u00a0\u00a0 the strategy we have evolved is keeping them at bay and curtailing their expansion plan. We have pushed them back so many times in the last two weeks and this has made their expansion moves impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this had not been done, the insurgents would have added other towns to the already captured ones but now is like we have drawn circles round them and it is difficult for them to venture out. We are only waiting for the right time to take them on but at present we are involved in aerial\u00a0\u00a0 bombardment of their strongholds.\u201d<\/p>\n

A civil rights organisation, Citizens Arise Movement of Nigeria, has however given the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum to set up a panel to investigate the alleged involvement of a former Chief of Army Staff, Patrick Ihejirika, and ex- Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Modu Sheriff, in the sponsorship of Boko Haram.<\/p>\n

CAMON, who also sought amnesty for the 12 convicted soldiers,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 threatened to commence a\u00a0\u00a0 nationwide protest if the government failed to meet the deadline.<\/p>\n

The organisation said that the Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, and the Australian government should be invited to unravel the truth about those financing the terror group.<\/p>\n

The Convener of CAMON and former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye,\u00a0\u00a0 stated these during a news conference and public presentation of the group\u00a0\u00a0 in Abuja on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

CAMON made 22 demands from the Federal Government, including opening up on the $9.3m seized by the South African authorities.<\/p>\n

Melaye said, \u201cWe declare that if within the next 14 days, the Federal Government fails to respond appropriately to our demands, we shall commence and inspire nationwide protests which shall continue until our demands are met.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday convicted three persons for participating in acts of terrorism and being members of\u00a0\u00a0 the outlawed Boko Haram sect. The convicts \u2013 Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi and Ibrahim Usman \u2013 will collectively spend 75 years in jail. The trio were among the 17 suspected insurgents arraigned before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Alleged-Boko-Haram-members-360x225.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-zE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2212,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210\/revisions\/2212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}