By Ado Oyeyemi
The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced a farmer and father of eight, Malam Mele Modu, to 10 years’ imprisonment for failing to report the activities of Boko Haram insurgents to security agencies.
Modu, from Abara village in the Bara Local Government Area of Borno State, was convicted on Friday after admitting that he failed to provide information that could have helped security operatives arrest and prosecute the terrorists.
According to Daily Post, the convict was among 47 suspected terrorists being prosecuted by the Federal Government before Justice Binta Nyako.
He faced a four-count charge bordering on alleged membership of Boko Haram, providing support to the insurgents by harvesting beans for them and withholding information about their activities.
Although Modu denied three of the charges, he admitted the count relating to his failure to provide information to the Federal Government that could have helped curb the terrorists’ operations.
During his arraignment, the farmer told the court that he was afraid to report the insurgents because he feared they would kill him.
However, the court rejected the explanation, holding that his fear did not excuse his failure to comply with the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2013.
His counsel, Mr Dauda Hassan, had appealed to the court to consider his client’s fear of being killed by the insurgents, but the argument failed to persuade the judge.
Justice Nyako consequently found Modu guilty of violating Section 8(1)(b) of the Act and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
The judge, however, ordered that the sentence should run from 2016, when operatives of the Department of State Services arrested him.
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The ruling forms part of the Federal Government’s ongoing prosecution of suspected terrorists as authorities pursue cases involving alleged membership, support for insurgents and the concealment of information about terrorist activities.
