IT is no longer news that terrorism is live in our country, Nigeria. As we speak, we have home-grown terrorists, mostly radicalized, unemployed youths in cahoots with foreign terrorists with international affiliations like ISWAP and Al Qaeda plying their nefarious trade in our country. The last terror attack that dominated the news headlines for more than 56 days was that of the Oriire incident in Oyo State, in which about 46 persons, including a school principal, teachers and school children were abducted and herded into the forest after which the terrorists started their ransom game. In the process, they brutally beheaded one of the school teachers. That was a gruesome event that traumatized most Nigerians. It is good and heartwarming that at the end, some of the terrorists were arrested, some fell to the firepower of security operatives, and the captives got freed. Yesterday, the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced three of the terrorists to life in prison over their complicity in the Oriire kidnapping. Justice Salim Ibrahim convicted and sentenced the defendants, Abdulrazak Umar (a.k.a. Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid), Yunusa Musa (a.k.a. Yunusa bin Musa), and Shamsu Adamu Sani (a.k.a. Abu Itisar), after they pleaded guilty to some of the allegations the Federal Government levelled against them. The defendants were docked before him on a 10-count charge that bordered on terrorism, kidnapping, concealment, incitement, and illegal mining. Following their arraignment, they admitted that they concealed information about the masterminds of the school attack. The defendants also admitted membership of Darul Salam, an organisation described as an affiliate of Jamaatu Asarul Muslima Fi Bilandis Sudan (Ansaru), a proscribed terrorist organisation in Nigeria. While all three defendants pleaded guilty to counts four and six of the charge, the first defendant, Umar alias Abu Khalid, accepted guilt on counts 7, 8, 9, and 10, which bordered on allegations that he provided training and instructions to terrorists via a WhatsApp group titled “The Oneness of Allah is the Foundation of Peace.” However, they maintained their innocence on the remaining counts of the charge. As a result, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, persuaded the court to sentence the defendants on the counts of the charge to which they pleaded guilty. The convicts, all from Suleja LGA of Niger State, were alleged to have conspired with one Muhammad Sani, Jibril Mohammed, and Ibrahim Khabab, between January and May 2026, to kidnap school children and teachers in Oyo State, contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. I commend the Nigeria Police, or whichever security organization that prepared their case for prosecution. This is because many cases like these had died in the prosecution mill as a result of shoddy investigation. The prosecuting agency deserves a pat on the back for its timely handling of the case. Also, in this instance, the judiciary is to be commended for rapid dispensation of justice. This is one case that was not characterized by the usual adjournments that result in long-drawn trials. To this end, I implore security outfits to carry out thorough investigations, so that prosecutors can present what is known as a water-tight case that will result in the desired conviction, which in turn will serve as deterrent to others. At a very personal level, I am of the opinion that the life imprisonment sentence is a slap on the wrist. Life imprisonment? For people who deliberately planned and executed a course of action that was calculated to inflict maximum psychological and physical terror on innocent, law-abiding teachers and students whose only sin was going to school that day? No! I think they should have got the capital punishment, after all, they killed people, gruesomely. It is an insult to all of us that people like these will still be kept with resources from our commonwealth. They will continue to eat and drink from the taxes paid by their victims, their families, and the rest of us. That is just not fair. In that regard, I support the Department of State Services, DSS, which has said it would appeal the life imprisonment sentence on the terrorists because the offence they committed is heavier than the sentence To that extent, I call on the national and state assemblies to revisit the laws about terrorism and prescribe capital punishment for terrorists. There should also be a provision mandating their execution within a stipulated period of time. This is to rein in some state governors who decline to sign execution warrants on flimsy, unacceptable grounds. There are too many inmates on the death row in our prisons simply because of this. And some governors are no better than some of these convicts. A governor who fails to build schools, roads, hos
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