By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
Condemnations have trailed the 20-year imprisonment handed down to a leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Hussaini Ismaila, by a Federal High Court in Abuja on terrorism charges.
In their comments on various social media platforms, some citizens of the country described the jail term as lenient, calling instead for life imprisonment because of the havoc Ismaila and his group wreaked in the country.
In a judgement delivered on Tuesday, November 19, Justice Emeka Nwite said the sentencing followed Ismaila’s decision to change his plea from not guilty to guilty on the four-count charge filed under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013 by the Department of State Services (DSS)..
Ismaila, also known as Mai Tangaran, was accused of coordinating multiple attacks on police formations in Kano State in 2012.
In the charges, the prosecution accused Ismaila of masterminding attacks on the Police Headquarters in Bompai, the Mobile Police Base on Kabuga Road, Pharm Centre Police Station, and Angwa Uku Police Station, among other locations, during which several people sustained injuries.
He was arrested on August 31, 2017 at Tsamiyya Babba Village in Gezewa Local Government Area of Kano State and subsequently arraigned.
The trial, however, experienced delays due to interlocutory appeals and a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of his extra-judicial statements.
When proceedings eventually commenced, the DSS called five witnesses, including two operatives and two eyewitnesses to some of the attacks.
Ismaila, who had initially denied the charges, changed his plea after the evidence of the fifth prosecution witness.
In his judgement, Justice Nwite found Ismaila guilty on all four counts and sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment on count one and 20 years each on counts two, three, and four, which would run concurrently.
The judge ordered that the sentence take effect from the date of Ismaila’s arrest, August 31, 2017.
He further directed the Controller-General of the Correctional Service to confine the convict in any facility of his choice for the duration of the sentence.
The news of Ismaila’s sentencing, however, did not sit well with some Nigerians. They said the court should have sentenced him to life imprisonment.
In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), @advocateforchng wrote, “This guy should be bagging life and not 20 years.”
@sulaimanaa said, “Why not life imprisonment? Why not death? Why only 20 years?”
@OLAMITosureju added, “He should be hanged publicly.”
@mekkizedek said, “Just imagine! We need a complete overhaul of our judiciary.”
They also compared the judgement with that of Jackson Sunday, who was charged with culpable homicide and sentenced to life imprisonment for killing an armed itinerant herder, Ardo Bawuro, who attacked him on his farm in Adamawa State in 2015.
@DanielRegha tweeted, “People have faced worse penalties for doing less. Someone was sentenced to death for self-defence, another got the death penalty over blasphemy, but a proven terrorist who has ruined lives is getting just 20 years in prison in a country that’s fighting terrorism, in a country where tensions are high. Yea, the government doesn’t take us seriously.”
@YarKafanchan wrote, “An actual terrorist, Hussaini Ismaila, has been sentenced to just 20 years in jail, while Sunday Jackson, who fought off a terrorist who stabbed him twice, was sentenced to death. You can all see that the Nigerian state is not serious about combating terrorism. #FreeSundayJackson.”
@Oloye said, “They sentenced a man to death by hanging for defending himself. They are sentencing a man directly responsible for the cold-blooded murder of so many others to a mere 20 years. Makes no damn sense.”
Also, netizens noted the security threat posed by the reintegration of convicted armed men into society.
@Neristar15 tweeted, “What is the point? Someone that you will jail today and release the next day. For me, terrorists should face capital punishment.”
