I Will Run Back To Sambisa Forest If Released – Boko Haram Commander

A 22-year-old commander of the Boko Haram terrorist, Abba Umar, who was convicted to 60 years imprisonment by a Federal High Court sitting at Wawa Military Cantonment, Kainji, Niger State, yesterday, said he will run back to Sambisa Forest if released.

Umar, who was among a second batch of over 1,000 Boko Haram suspects being prosecuted by the Federal Government at Kainji, was culpable of various acts of terrorism.

Umar, who was 18 years old when he was arrested, in 2014 after a failed suicide mission to bomb a school in Gombe State, did not feel remorseful for his actions after the court’s verdict.

He confirmed that the 17 pictures the prosecuting counsel tendered, which showed him, the car and Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, meant for the foiled suicide operation, were authentic.

The convict, speaking through an Hausa interpreter, said he will hurry back to Sambisa Forest to continue with his acts of terrorism if he was ever released from detention.

Umar told the court that he married two wives in Sambisa Forest, describing himself as “an Islamist warrior, and a commander in the Islamist army.”

He said he had over 100 lieutenants under him as a commander in the Boko Haram sect.