Court sentences ‘Thisday-bomber’ to life imprisonment

Alleged kingpin of the Boko Haram sect, Mustapher Umar, who allegedly bombed office of the Thisday Newspaper in Kaduna State on April 26, 2012 with 12 camp gas cylinders, was today, handed a life sentence by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

Trial Justice Ademola Adeniyi in his judgment, said he was convinced that the accused person deserved to be "removed from the public so that he will not kill more innocent persons."

The High Court had heard how the accused person wept bitterly when he was rescued from a badly burnt Honda car that was allegedly used for the operation, saying he had been denied the opportunity of inheriting 72 virgins in heaven.

The court, aside asking the convict to pay the sum of N150million to the families of the three persons that died as a result of his terrorist act, equally ordered that he should be subjected to hard labour while in prison.

Other media outlets affected by that attack on the premises of SOJ Plaza in Kaduna State included the Moment and the Sun Newspapers.