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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced Sunday Frank to 40 years’ imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to spying for the late Benue militia leader, Terwase Akwaza, popularly known as Gana.
Justice Hawa Yilwa convicted Frank, who hails from Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, on count 4 of a four-count charge brought by the federal government under the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act (TPPA) 2022. The sentence runs from the day of his arrest.
The court also ordered that, on completing his prison term, the convict undergo a rehabilitation and deradicalisation programme.
The federal government alleged that Frank monitored the movement of security agents and passed the information to Gana, with his coverage spanning Benue and Taraba states.
He was also accused of kidnapping one Samuel in 2022 and holding him hostage until N40,000 was paid for his release.
The offences were alleged to be contrary to sections 21 and 24 of the TPPA 2022. The charge was personally prosecuted by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Frank denied counts 1, 2 and 3, which related to the alleged abduction, but pleaded guilty to count 4, which related to providing information to the bandit leader. Following the plea, the AGF applied for the three denied counts to be struck out, and the court granted the request.
The prosecution called a witness who was part of the team that investigated Frank. Identified only as ” AAA” after the court allowed the federal government to shield his identity, he reviewed the facts of the case.
He told the court that Frank, who was arrested in 2022, confessed orally and in writing to being a bandit and an informant to Gana.
According to the witness, Frank admitted that, besides giving Gana updates on the movement of security agents, he participated in banditry and in the abduction of two persons.
The defence counsel, Mr Y. Y. Shullai, did not oppose the prosecution’s application to tender Frank’s statement in evidence. Justice Yilwa admitted it as Exhibit A. The investigation report filed by the witness’s team was tendered and admitted as Exhibit B.
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Citing the confession and the exhibits, the AGF urged the court to convict Frank on count 4. He described the offence as very serious, noting that the law prescribes a minimum of 20 years’ imprisonment and a maximum of life.
He asked for a sentence of not less than 30 years, warning: “If it is not nipped in the bud, a whole generation of our security operatives can be wiped out by people like this providing information about their movement.”
The AGF also drew the court’s attention to the fact that count 4 related to section 13 of the TPPA.
Shullai, who is from the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACoN), said he did not oppose the AGF’s submissions.
Gana reportedly began as part of a militia group defending Benue communities against attacks by suspected herdsmen. He later became a notorious militia leader.
He was killed on 8 September 2020, during a military operation by the Nigerian Army.
Before his death, Gana had surrendered and embraced a second amnesty programme offered by the Benue State government in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, in the presence of traditional rulers, clerics and local government officials.
He was travelling in a government-backed convoy with other repentant militia members and officials to Makurdi, the state capital, where then Governor Samuel Ortom was to receive them.
Troops of the 4 Special Forces Command (Operation Ayem Akpatuma III) intercepted the convoy at a roadblock along the Gbese–Gboko–Makurdi road.
The Commander of the 4 Special Forces Command, Brigadier General Maude Ali Gadzama, said the troops acted on strategic intelligence. According to the military, soldiers engaged Gana’s group in a shootout after the militia members opened fire or resisted. Gana was killed in the firefight and about 40 gang members were captured.
Former Governor Ortom, along with local community leaders and politicians, disputed the military’s account. They maintained that Gana was surrendering peacefully, and that soldiers forcibly dragged the unarmed militia leader out of the official government convoy and extra-judicially killed him.
Frank’s case is part of the ongoing mass trial of detained terror suspects.
