UPDATE(THISDAY BOMBER BAGS LIFE SENTENCE):A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment, a convicted member of the Boko Haram sect, Mustapher Umar. Umar, a 34- year old indigene of Yobe State, was convicted over his attempt to bomb a building – SOJ Plaza on Sabongari Road, Kaduna on April 26, 2012. The building housed three newspaper houses- Thisday, The Sun and Moment newspapers. The convict, who claimed to be a petty trader until he got involved with the sect, confessed that his attack on the building was to avenge the wrongful portrayal of Prophet Mohammed by Thisday newspaper in one of its publications. Three people died when he rammed a Honda car containing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) made from camp gas cylinders, into the building. In the judgment, Justice Ademola Adeniyi convicted Umar based on the evidence presented by the prosecution and the accused confessional statement tendered in court. The prosecution called 10 witnesses in the course of the trial, while Umar testified for himself as the sole defence witness. The court rejected Umar’s claim of being innocent and that he was compelled by the police to admit committing the crime. “A careful examination of the confessional statement will show his (Umar’s) state of mind and how the attack was planned. “Their activities in Kaduna, where they stay and how they are financed are also shown in the statement. “The prosecution has proved the case of terrorism against the accused. I therefore find the accused person, a self-confessed Boko Haram member, guilty of the crime. “The accused person’s evil act resulted in the killing of three people, leaving others with various degrees of injury. “The reasons he gave for attacking the media houses are not tenable. It is the court’s opinion that he should be removed from the public so that he does not kill more people,” the judge held. Justice Adeniyi, upon convicting Umar, consequently sentenced him to life imprisonment with hard labour.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 14:49:35 +0000
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