THISDAY BOMBER JAILED FOR LIFE

MUSTAPHA UMAR

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday, sentenced a member of the Boko Haram sect, Mustapha Umar, to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of participating in the bombing of the SOJ Plaza building in Kaduna, occupied by The Sun, ThisDay and The Moment newspapers in April last year.

Allegations against Umar stated that he drove a white Honda Academy car with number AL 306 MKA, containing explosive devices, into the SOJ building with intentions to blow it up.

These actions resulted in the death of three persons and injured many others. The accused pleaded guilty to the charges and cited scripture in defence of his actions.

The proceedings, which were presided over by Justice Ademola Adeniyi, presented the recording of Umar’s interview with the authorities, where he confessed to being a member of the Boko Haram sect. The testimonies of ten witnesses, who were police officers involved in the investigation process, were taken.

Adeniyi then awarded the sum of N150 million to the families of the victims of the blast. He also praised the efforts of the police which resulted in the prosecution of the case by a team of lawyers from the nation’s Ministry of Justice.