Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Hussaini Ismaila, a senior commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) also known as Mai Tangaran, to 20 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to multiple terrorism charges.
The Department of State Services (DSS) prosecuted Ismaila on a four-count charge under the Terrorism (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2013.
He was accused of coordinating deadly attacks in Kano State in 2012, including strikes on the Police Headquarters in Bompai, Mobile Police Base on Kabuga Road, Pharm Centre Police Station, and Angwa Uku Police Station, where several people sustained injuries.
Arrested on August 31, 2017, in Tsamiyya Babba Village, Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State, Ismaila initially pleaded not guilty.
The trial faced years of delays due to appeals and a trial-within-trial to verify the voluntariness of his confessional statements. The DSS called five witnesses, including operatives and eyewitnesses, before Ismaila abruptly changed his plea to guilty following the fifth testimony.
His defence counsel, P.B. Onijah from the Legal Aid Council, pleaded for leniency, stating that the convict was deeply remorseful, regretted his involvement in terrorism, and switched pleas to save the court’s time.
In his judgment on Tuesday, Justice Nwite convicted Ismaila on all counts: 15 years for the first and 20 years each for the remaining three. The sentences will run concurrently, with time served counting from the 2017 arrest date meaning he has already served over eight years.
The judge ordered the Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service to detain Ismaila in any facility of choice. Crucially, he mandated that the convict undergo mandatory rehabilitation and deradicalisation programmes upon completion of his sentence before any reintegration into society.
This conviction represents a rare judicial victory in Nigeria’s long battle against ISWAP, which has intensified attacks in the northeast despite military operations. Security analysts say such prosecutions, though delayed, demonstrate the effectiveness of intelligence-led arrests and the justice system’s role in counter-terrorism.
The DSS has hailed the outcome as a deterrent to would-be terrorists, while victims’ families in Kano expressed mixed feelings—relieved at justice served but noting the attacks’ scars remain over a decade later.
As insurgency evolves with recent high-profile incidents like the killing of Brigadier General Musa Uba, convictions like this underscore that the fight against terrorism combines both kinetic operations and legal accountability.