Court sentences Boko Haram’s ex-spokesperson to three-year jail

An Abuja magistrate court has sentenced to three-year jail term an ex-spokesperson of the Nigeria’s extremist Boko Haram sect blamed for scores of attacks, including the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters here, killing 23 people and injuring more than 80 others.

Chief Magistrate Oyebola Oyewumi had convicted Ali Konduga for felony on November 22 after he pleaded guilty to the one-count charge against him and asked for leniency.

The magistrate however deferred sentencing to a later date because the second accused person in the case, Ali Ndume, a serving senator, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

At the November 22 hearing of the matter, the prosecutor, whose name was simply given as C. I. Osagie, had told the court that the accused persons conspired to commit felony, breach of official trust, and criminal intimidation by sending anonymous text messages to some senior public officials, including the attorney-general of the federation, contrary to Sections 79, 98 and 398 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).