A Nigerian court has sentenced 44 individuals to prison terms of up to 30 years with hard labor for financing the jihadist militant group Boko Haram, the country’s counter-terrorism agency announced on Saturday. The trials of 10 others were postponed, officials said.
The defendants appeared before four specially constituted courts set up at a military base in the central state of Niger. Sentences ranged from 10 to 30 years, all including compulsory hard labor, according to a spokesperson.
Boko Haram, responsible for years of deadly violence in Nigeria and neighboring regions, gained global notoriety in 2014 after kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in Chibok. The group also burned down a government college, killing dozens of trapped schoolboys.
Since its insurgency began in northeastern Nigeria in 2002, Boko Haram’s campaign has spread to Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and displacing millions. The militants have employed brutal tactics, including suicide bombings and armed assaults—such as a 2011 attack on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja.
Nigeria has conducted mass trials for terrorism-related offenses since 2017 as part of its efforts to dismantle extremist networks. The latest convictions underscore the government’s ongoing crackdown on those supporting the militant group.
Authorities have not released the identities of those sentenced, but the rulings highlight Nigeria’s continued struggle against Boko Haram’s destabilizing influence in the region.
