Kabiru Umar Sokoto, the Boko Haram bomber, has appealed his terrorism conviction by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Sokoto, through his counsel, Don Akaegbu & Company,
filed an application dated May 13, 2026, at the Abuja court of appeal.
THE CASE
On December 20, 2013, Sokoto was convicted and sentenced to
life imprisonment over the Christmas Day bombing of St Theresa Catholic Church
in Madalla, Niger state, which killed at least 37 people and injured 57 others.
In July 2022, TheCable reported that Sokoto had been
planning to kidnap the children of Kashim Shettima, then-governor of Borno
state, when he was arrested in January 2012.
He was initially arrested at the Borno governor’s lodge in
Asokoro, Abuja, before he escaped from police custody and was re-arrested a
month later in Taraba state.
‘WHY APPEAL PROCESS WAS DELAYED’
In the motion of notice, Sokoto’s counsel prayed the court
of appeal for leave to file his notice of appeal out of time and for the notice
already filed to be deemed properly filed and served.
The convict told the court that the delay in filing the
appeal was caused by his prolonged incarceration, repeated transfers across
different custodial facilities, and the deaths of two lawyers earlier engaged
for the case.
“The Applicant was convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment on 20th December, 2013. The Applicant has been continuously
incarcerated since then,” the court filing reads.
“The Applicant was moved across several custodial centres
across different States, making access to counsel extremely difficult.
“The Applicant’s trial counsel initiated steps toward appeal
but died before perfecting same. Another counsel engaged thereafter also passed
away before prosecuting the appeal.
“A letter written by the trial counsel requesting
compilation of records exists but the appeal was not completed. The delay was
not deliberate but occasioned by circumstances beyond the control of the
Applicant.”
The application for an extension of time to appeal was filed
because the 90-day deadline for appealing the criminal conviction had elapsed.
THE AFFIDAVIT
In an affidavit, Lawal Suleiman, nephew of the convict, said
the family was unable to locate Sokoto at the maximum security custodial
facility, Kirikiri, Lagos, in March 2026.
Suleiman said that since the incarceration of Sokoto at
different custodial facilities, his health had deteriorated.
“The Applicant is presently detained at the Maximum Security
Custodial Facility, Kirikiri, Lagos State, a facility far removed from his
family and community in Sokoto State,” the affidavit reads.
“The conditions of a maximum security custodial facility,
combined with his prolonged incarceration, have taken a visible and grievous
toll on his physical and psychological well-being.
“During my visit to him in March 2026, I personally observed
that the Applicant’s health has deteriorated significantly since his
incarceration commenced.
“He has aged considerably beyond his years and is in
manifest need of medical attention that the custodial facility is not
adequately providing.
“The Applicant is the principal provider for his family. His
elderly parents, wife, and children have been without his support, presence,
and care for over fourteen years.
“His aged parents, in particular, are in declining health
and advancing years, and the Applicant has expressed to me, in the most
compelling terms, his profound anxiety that he may never see his parents alive
again if this appeal is not heard with dispatch.
“The Applicant has consistently maintained his innocence of
the charges brought against him. He has at all material times been desirous of
exercising his constitutional right of appeal guaranteed under Section 36 of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”
GROUNDS FOR APPEAL
The proposed appeal filed by the convict was anchored on 12
grounds.
The convict asked the court to appeal to set aside his
conviction and acquit him of the two-count charge preferred against him by the
federal government.
He argued that the trial judge erred by convicting him of an
offence under section 15(2) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(Establishment) Act, 2004, which is a financial crime and not terrorism.
The convict said the prosecution failed to establish a nexus
between him and any specific terrorist act at Mabira, Sokoto state, between
2007 and 2012.
“The learned trial Judge erred in law when he held that the
prosecution discharged its burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt on both
counts of the Second Amended Charge, whereas the prosecution demonstrably
failed to prove the essential ingredients of either offence against the
Appellant,” the notice of appeal reads.
“On Count One: The prosecution failed to adduce credible and
direct evidence establishing that the Appellant committed or facilitated any of
the acts of terrorism particularised in the charge, or that there was any nexus
between the Appellant and any specific terrorist act at Mabira, Sokoto State,
between 2007 and 2012.”
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