By Oluwadara Akingbohungbe
The federal government yesterday convicted four sponsors of Boko Haram.
The quartet, Modu Aisami, Zana Zarama and Umar Kame, were convicted and sentenced to prison, after pleading guilty to the charges brought by the FG in a special trial held by the Federal Supreme Court in Dawaki in Abuja.
While the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, leads the FG legal team, the defense is led by the Director of the Criminal Justice Department of the Legal Aid Council of the LAC , F A Bakre, leads.
The accused, who were arraigned before Justices Binta Nyako and Emeka Nwite, pleaded for leniency after the charges were read to them separately.
According to a complaint by the Director of the Federal Criminal Prosecution Service, DPPF, MM. Abubakar, one of the accused, Aisami, provided money to the terrorist group by buying food from them.
He is alleged to have reasonably known that the proceeds from these transactions would be used to commit a terrorist act. FG argued that by his actions he had committed an offense contrary to section 13(1)(a)(ii) of the Terrorism Amendment Act 2013.
Delivering his verdict after the defendant admitted that he was guilty of the charge, the trial judge, Justice Nyako, found him guilty of counts 2 and 3 of the charge.
