Yobe farmer jailed 10 years for failing to report Boko Haram members

A father of eight children, Malam Mele Modu, of Abara village in Bara Local Government Area of Borno State, has been jailed 10 years for deliberate refusal to report the activities of Boko Haram members in his community to security agencies.

Modu was convicted and jailed on Friday by the Federal High Court in Abuja after he admitted negligence on his part to volunteer information that would have led to the arrest and prosecution of the terrorists in the area. 

The convict is one of the 47 suspected terrorists put on trial by the Federal Government before Justice Binta Nyako. 

He was prosecuted on a four-count charge bordering on Boko Haram membership, supporting terrorists by harvesting beans for them in the farm and concealing information on the activities of the terrorists.

The convict vehemently denied three of the four charges but admitted guilt to refusal to support the Federal Government with information that would have curtailed the unlawful activities of the terrorists. 

During the arraignment, the convict told the court that he was afraid to expose the terrorists for fear of being killed. 

The excuse was however rejected by the court as being untenable in the face of Section 8(1) and ( b) of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2013.

Concerted efforts by his lawyer, Mr Dauda Hassan, to get him off the hook on the excuse that he feared being killed by the terrorists were unsuccessful. 

Justice Nyako pronounced him guilty of violating Section 8 (1) and ( b) of the terrorism law and ordered him to spend 10 years in prison. 

The jail term will however start from 2016, when he was apprehended by operatives of the Department of the State Services, DSS.