Haruna Yahaya, a 35-year-old member of Boko Haram arrested for taking part in the abduction of over 200 Chibok Secondary School girls in 2014, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Yahaya was convicted on Monday by the Federal High Court sitting in Wawa Cantonment, Kainji, Niger State, for terrorism offenses.

The court sentenced him for being a member of the proscribed insurgent group and participating in the group’s attacks in Chibok, Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, and Gabsuri town in Damboa Local Government of the state.

He pleaded guilty to the two counts preferred against him by the Federal Government but pleaded for mercy, saying he was forcefully conscripted into the terrorist group.

But the judge, who sat in one of the four special courts established by the Federal High Court to fast-track the trial of over 1,000 suspects, said the court was “not fooled” by Yahaya’s story.

Although Yahaya is crippled in his left arm and left leg, the court noted that he was “using the misfortune of his handicap to draw sympathy”.

The judge, therefore, ruled that the 15 years sentence passed on the convict, who had been in detention since 2015, would commence, counting from Monday.