ISWAP leader sentenced to 20 years imprisonment over terror attacks

For Husaini Ismaila, one of the leaders of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) being prosecuted by the Department of State Service (DSS) on terrorism charges, the end came yesterday.

Ismaila was convicted by a  Federal High Court in Abuja.

He is to spend the next 20 years behind bars.

Justice Emeka Nwite handed out 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 DSS.

The prosecution said Ismaila was the coordinator of the 2012 attacks on Police Headquarters in Bompai, Mobile Police Base, Kabuga Road; Pharm Centre Police Station; Angwa Uku Police Station – all in Kano State, among other places – in which many were injured

Shortly 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.

When trial eventually opened, the prosecution called five witnesses, including two DSS officials and two eye-witnesses to some of the attacks.

Ismaila, who had earlier pleaded not guilty during his arraignment, changed his plea to guilty after the testimony of the fifth prosecution witness, 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 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.

The judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently, while the sentencing shall begin to run from the date of his arrest, on August 31, 2017.

Justice Nwite 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.

The judge added that Ismaila should be subjected to both rehabilitation and deradicalization after serving his term, before being reintegrated with the society.