Court Gives Kabiru Sokoto More Time to Appeal Life Sentence

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has given Kabiru Umar, also known as Kabiru Sokoto, more time to appeal his 2013 life sentence from the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The decision came from a three-member panel made up of Justices Muhammed Danjuma, Ntong Ntong, and Eleojo Enenche. They issued the order after Mr Umar filed an appeal on 13 May.

In his application, Mr Umar requested more time to appeal the Federal High Court's ruling from 20 December 2013. He also wanted to file his notice of appeal late and asked the court to consider his already submitted notice of appeal as properly filed and served.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Umar filed this appeal 12 years after his conviction for the 2011 bombing of St Theresa Catholic Church in Madallah, a town in Niger State close to Abuja.

Mr Umar claimed that things beyond his control held up his appeal. According to a document from the court, these included the deaths of his two previous lawyers, "repeated custodial transfers," and his family's serious "financial constraints."

The court's order granted the first and third requests from Mr Umar's application. This means they extended the time for him to appeal and accepted his notice of appeal as properly filed. The second and fourth requests were withdrawn and removed from the application.

Now, Mr Umar has more time to appeal the Federal High Court’s judgement in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/38/2013.

The court also gave him 21 days to file his notice and grounds of appeal. The filing must be done at the registry of the lower court, along with the Court of Appeal’s order.

This enrolled order was issued on 20 August and confirmed by the Court of Appeal Registry on 2 September.

Mr Umar, who has earned a degree while in prison, is facing charges related to the Christmas Day bombing that Boko Haram claimed responsibility for. The attack killed about 35 worshippers and injured many others.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that Mr Sokoto was first arrested on 14 January 2012 at the Borno State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja. He was arrested with a serving military officer and taken to Abaji by police officers who were investigating the case.

He escaped from police custody, which led to Zakari Biu, then-head of the Zone 7 Police Command in Abuja, being suspended and placed under house arrest. Mr Biu was in charge of the team that lost Mr Sokoto and was later detained at an undisclosed location with other police officers involved in the case.

The escape caused then-President Goodluck Jonathan to give a 24-hour ultimatum to the then-Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hafiz Ringim to find the Boko Haram suspect. Mr Ringim did not succeed and was later retired.

According to the State Security Services (SSS), Kabiru Sokoto was re-arrested in February 2012 after a gunfight between its operatives and his gang members in Taraba State.

He was sentenced by the Federal High Court in Abuja on 20 December 2013. The suspected terrorist was given life imprisonment for terrorism charges under Section 15(2) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act 2004 and 10 years' imprisonment for a second charge under Section 7(1) of the Terrorism Act, 2011.