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Nigeria Islamist sect member given 3 years in jail

Tue, 6 Dec 2011 11:29 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A Nigerian Islamist sect member was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison for criminal intimidation, while charges against a senator who is accused of working with him were filed in Abuja's high court.

Ali Sanda Konduga pleaded guilty on Nov. 22 to the charges, which relate to threatening text messages sent to politicians during his time as a spokesman for Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect behind dozens of deadly attacks this year.

Konduga asked the court to treat him with leniency and pledged to help authorities tackle Boko Haram.

"In view of the plea for leniency, this court hereby sentences you, Ali Sanda Konduga, to three years in prison," Judge Oyebola Oyewumi said in an Abuja magistrates court. The charges carried a maximum sentence of nine years.

At the hearing last month, Senator Ali Ndume pleaded not guilty to charges of passing classified information to an unauthorised person and of criminal intimidation, for his alleged involvement with Konduga.

Ndume's case was withdrawn from the magistrates court and four new charges were presented to an Abuja high court this week, but he has yet to attend the court to deliver his plea. Court sources said the case may begin on Thursday or Friday.

The charges against Ndume include providing Konduga with politicians' phone numbers and not disclosing information to authorities under Nigeria's Terrorism Prevention Act.

Boko Haram, meaning "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, has been blamed for dozens of attacks in the remote northeast of Africa's most populous nation this year, mostly targeting authority figures.

It also claimed responsibility for two bombings in the capital Abuja this year, including a suicide attack on United Nations headquarters in August, which killed 24 people.

Nigeria's intelligence agency, the state security service, has said there is a strong political element to Boko Haram's violence. (Reporting by Camillus Eboh and Afolabi Sotunde; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Tim Cocks)