CONVICTED TERRORIST KABIRU SOKOTO CHALLENGES 2013 LIFE SENTENCE AT APPEAL COURT

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By: Muftau Fatimo

Convicted terrorist Kabiru Umar, popularly known as Kabiru Sokoto, has approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge his 2013 conviction and life sentence over terrorism-related offences, claiming he was wrongly convicted.

Fresh court documents obtained on Saturday showed that Umar, through his lawyers, Don Akaegbu & Company, filed a motion dated May 13, 2026, seeking an extension of time to appeal the judgment delivered by Justice A.F.A. Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on December 20, 2013.

The application, brought pursuant to Sections 6(6)(b) and 36 of the 1999 Constitution, Section 24 of the Court of Appeal Act and Orders 6 Rules 7 and 9 of the Court of Appeal Rules, also asked the appellate court for leave to file his notice of appeal out of time and for the notice already filed to be deemed properly filed and served.

Umar was convicted on a two-count charge bordering on alleged facilitation of terrorist acts and failure to disclose information relating to a terrorist incident.

In the motion on notice, the appellant argued that the delay in filing the appeal resulted from circumstances beyond his control, including prolonged incarceration, repeated transfers between custodial facilities across different states and the deaths of two lawyers engaged to prosecute the appeal.

“The Applicant was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 20th December, 2013. The Applicant has been continuously incarcerated since then,” part of the court filing stated.

It further noted that Umar was moved across several custodial centres, making access to legal representation difficult, while his initial trial counsel died before perfecting the appeal process.

According to the filing, another lawyer later engaged by the family also died before taking concrete steps to prosecute the appeal.

An affidavit deposed to by Umar’s nephew, Lawal Suleiman, stated that the family only succeeded in locating the convict in March 2026 at the Maximum Security Custodial Facility in Kirikiri, Lagos.

Suleiman said the repeated transfers weakened communication between Umar and his relatives in Sokoto State and worsened the family’s financial challenges.

The appellant also claimed that his health had deteriorated significantly during his years in custody.

In the proposed notice of appeal, Umar’s legal team challenged the legal basis of the conviction, arguing that the trial court wrongly relied on provisions of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act, 2004, instead of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011.

The defence argued that the EFCC Act was designed for financial and economic crimes and could not validly sustain a terrorism conviction.

Umar also disputed the admissibility and voluntariness of his confessional statement, marked Exhibit KUKS1, alleging that it was written by an investigating police officer in a question-and-answer format rather than freely narrated by him.

In a statement accompanying the court processes, his lawyers maintained that Umar was not convicted for masterminding the 2011 Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa Catholic Church.

According to the legal team, the charge against him was limited to alleged possession of information relating to the bombing and failure to disclose it to authorities.

“The distinction between direct participation and alleged prior knowledge is significant in law and forms a central issue in the pending appeal,” the statement added.

Despite his incarceration, Umar was said to have obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the National Open University of Nigeria.

He is asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court and discharge and acquit him on all counts.

The application has been served on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, although no hearing date has been fixed.