Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
A former senatorial aspirant in Borno State, Babagana Habeeb, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after a Federal High Court in Abuja found him guilty of aiding and abetting terrorism by supplying petroleum products to Boko Haram fighters. The sentence was delivered on Friday by Justice Peter Lifu during Nigeria’s mass terrorism trial, a four-day court exercise in which hundreds of suspects were processed in a renewed push to tackle delayed terrorism cases.
Habeeb, described in court reports as a fuel dealer based in Maiduguri, was convicted on a one-count charge filed by the Federal Government. According to multiple Nigerian media accounts, he pleaded guilty and admitted that petroleum from his business was sold to Boko Haram members operating in the North-East. He nevertheless told the court that the transactions might have been carried out by attendants at his filling station rather than by him personally. Justice Lifu held that this admission was enough to sustain the offence of aiding terrorism, even though there was no evidence before the court that Habeeb himself was a Boko Haram member or had taken part in weapons training.
The judge ordered that the term should take effect from the date of his arrest and detention. That detail is significant because the defendant told the court he had already spent more than 10 years in custody without contact with his family. Reports from the courtroom said he knelt in the dock and pleaded for mercy, telling the court he had two wives and six children. The court also directed that he be released after completing the sentence and recommended rehabilitation.
The prosecution argued that the offence had direct security consequences. Government counsel David Kaswe told the court that fuel sold to insurgents was used to power motorcycles deployed in attacks, contributing to deaths, displacement and the endurance of the insurgency. He reportedly urged the judge to impose a stiffer sentence, arguing that 20 years would have been appropriate despite the length of the defendant’s pretrial detention. The court ultimately imposed 10 years instead.
One unresolved aspect of the case is Habeeb’s political profile. Most reports described him broadly as a former senatorial candidate or aspirant from Borno State in the 2015 general election, but they did not clearly identify his party or senatorial district. Premium Times stated only that he had sought to run for a senatorial seat in 2015 and that his party was not indicated in the reporting from the proceedings.
His conviction emerged from a much larger anti-terrorism court process. Attorney-General of the Federation Lateef Fagbemi said the Abuja phase of the mass trial involved 508 cases and produced 386 convictions over four days. According to the attorney-general, eight defendants were discharged, two were acquitted and 112 cases were adjourned to a later phase. The proceedings were handled by more than 10 judges sitting in separate courtrooms. Associated Press reported that many defendants pleaded guilty and that sentences in the broader exercise ran as high as 20 years.
The broader context is Nigeria’s long conflict with Boko Haram and allied factions in the North-East. For more than a decade, the insurgency has devastated communities across Borno and neighbouring states, killing civilians, displacing large populations and straining the country’s military and judicial systems. In recent years, the conflict has also evolved, with Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, Islamic State West Africa Province, continuing to mount attacks while relying on local supply chains, illicit trade and civilian intermediaries to sustain movement and operations. Prosecutors in Habeeb’s case placed the fuel transactions squarely in that logistics network.
That is why the case has drawn attention beyond the individual sentence. Nigerian authorities increasingly frame terrorism not only in terms of gunmen on the battlefield but also in terms of those who enable them with transport, food, fuel, intelligence or money. Under that logic, a trader or dealer who knowingly supplies a strategic commodity to an insurgent group can be treated as part of the machinery that keeps violence alive.
At the same time, the case also highlights concerns around prolonged detention and mass terrorism trials in Nigeria. Habeeb’s plea for mercy was partly based on his claim that he had spent over a decade in custody without contact with his family, and the judge noted that the prosecution did not challenge that assertion in open court. Officials said international and domestic observers, including civil society and rights-related bodies, witnessed the broader trial process to support transparency and due process.
For Borno, the symbolism is sharp. The state has lived at the centre of the insurgency, and any case involving a local political figure accused of materially assisting Boko Haram is bound to resonate. Even without evidence that Habeeb was a combatant, the court accepted the prosecution’s case that petrol sales to insurgents were serious enough to merit a substantial prison term. The ruling therefore sends a message that the state intends to pursue not only armed militants but also civilians and business operators found to have sustained them.
As of Friday night, the clearest verified facts were these: Babagana Habeeb, a Maiduguri-based fuel dealer and former Borno senatorial aspirant, pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of aiding and abetting terrorism; Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced him to 10 years in prison; the sentence runs from the date of arrest; and the court recommended rehabilitation after completion of the term. What remains less clear from public reporting is his former party affiliation and the exact election he contested beyond the general reference to 2015. Still, the case stands as one of the most high-profile individual convictions to emerge from Nigeria’s mass terrorism trial and a stark illustration of how the state is targeting the logistical underpinnings of insurgency as well as the insurgents themselves.
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