Godwin Tsa, Abuja

A Federal High Court has sentenced a 35-year-old member of Boko Haram, Haruna Yahaya, to 15 years imprisonment on terrorism offences.

The convict, who participated in the abduction of over 200 Schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno, in 2014 ‎had his left arm and leg crippled.

He was said to have participated in the group’s attacks in Chibok and Gabsuri town.

He was convicted by a High Court sitting in Wawa Cantonment, Kainji, Niger State.

Yahaya had on Monday pleaded guilty to the two-count preferred against him by the Federal Government but pleaded for mercy, saying he was forcibly conscripted into the terror 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.

The court said the convict was “using the misfortune of his handicap to draw sympathy.”

The judge ruled that the 15-year sentence passed on the convict, who had been in detention since 2015, would commence starting Monday.