A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced to 20 years imprisonment Hussaini Ismaila,one of the leaders of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP),who was prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for alleged terrorism.
Justice Emeka Nwite slammed the sentence in a judgment delivered on Tuesday after Ismaila aka Mai Tangaran pleaded guilty to a four-count terrorism charge brought against him by the secret police.
According to the prosecution, Ismaila was the coordinator of the 2012 attacks on Police Headquarters in Bompai, Kano State; Mobile Police Base, Kabuga Road, Kano State; Pharm Centre Police Station, Kano State; Angwa Uku Police Station, Kano State, among other places, in which many were injured.
After his arrest on August 31, 2017, at Tsamiyya Babba Village, Gezewa LGA, Kano State, Ismaila was arraigned on a four-count charge brought under the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013.
The trial suffered delays resulting from appeals and the conduct of a trial-within-trial to, among other things, ascertain the voluntariness of the defendant’s extra-judicial statements.
Ismaila, who had earlier pleaded not guilty during his arraignment, changed his plea to guilty after the testimony of the fifth prosecution witness.
The defendant’s lawyer, P. B. Onijah from the Legal Aid Council (LAC) pleaded with the court to be lenient with the defendant.
Onijah said Ismaila was remorseful and changed his plea to avoid wasting the court’s time and regretted being involved in terrorism.
Justice Nwite, in his verdict, found Ismaila guilty of the offences charged and sentenced him to 15 years in relation to count one; and 20 years on counts two, three and four.
He ordered that the sentences run concurrently, while the sentencing shall begin to run from the date of his arrest, om August 31, 2017.
He also ordered that the Controller-General of the Correctional Service confine the convict at any prison of the Controller-General’s choice for the purpose of serving his sentence.
Ismaila must be subjected to both rehabilitation and deradicalization after serving his term, before being reintegrated with the society, he further ordered.