A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced a man, Ali Shaban Hamma (who claimed to be a father of 10) to 10 years imprisonment for giving protection to members of Boko Haram terrorists in his Borno community.

Justice Binta Nyako convicted and sentenced Hamma on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to the terrorism charge brought against him by the Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

The convict admitted knowing the Boko Haram members in his village and that he unknowingly refused to report them to the federal troops for arrest and prosecution.

The defendant confessed that he had been associating with the terrorists since they arrived his village to unleash criminal activities on the people.

Following the defendant’s guilty plea, the AGF, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who led the prosecuting team, urged the judge to sentence Hamma to a minimum of 20 years in view of the gravity of the offence of terrorism.

Fagbemi argued that the terrorists would have been brought to book if the convict had not rendered protection to them.

Justice Nyako, in her judgment, sentenced Hamma to 10 years imprisonment and ordered that the sentence should commence from 2012 when the convict was arrested and kept in custody. (The Nation)