(The Suspects. Photo by Nigeria Stories)
The court ruled that Abdulrazak Umar, also known as Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid; Yunusa Musa, also known as Yunusa Bin Musa; and Shamsu Adamu Sani, also known as Abu Itisar, will begin their sentences on the day of their detention.
The defendants’ attorneys begged the court to impose lenient sentences prior to Justice Salim Ibrahim’s sentencing.
They had entered guilty pleas and were first-time offenders, he continued.
Ibrahim noted that all of the charges they faced had nothing to do with the kidnapping and that this demonstrated their regret for what they had done.
Defence counsel further argued that the convicts were married men with children, as well as ageing parents who depend on them, and appealed to the court to grant them a second chance in life by imposing lenient sentences.
The prosecution, however, countered that the convicts were aware of individuals operating on the battlefield and, as patriotic Nigerians, ought to have reported such information to the relevant authorities.
After the charges were read out, the three defendants pleaded guilty to belonging to a proscribed t3rrorist group.
At their arraignment on t3rrorism-related charges before the Federal High Court in Abuja, they also admitted to withholding information relating to the planning and execution of a kidn@pping.
Notably, only the first defendant, Abdulrazak Umar, also known as Abu Khalifa or Abu Khalid, pleaded guilty to counts 7, 8, 9 and 10, which concerned training and issuing instructions, as well as inciting members of the t3rrorist group along a particular religious ideology.
The three defendants were being tried by the Department of State Services (DSS) on a 10-count charge covering kidn@pping, concealment of information, and other t3rrorism-related offences.
According to the charges, all three, who hail from Niger State, are accused of knowingly withholding information about persons linked to t3rrorist activities, participating in a kidn@pping, and using a messaging platform to facilitate t3rrorist training.