…Denies terrorism charges.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday sentenced one of the two Ansaru leaders Mahmud Muhammed Usman aka Abu Bara’a, to 15 years for illegal mining.
The convict Abu Bara’a who hails from Okene Local Governmeny Area of Kogi State, and his deputy Abubakar Abba aka Isah Adam or Mahmud Al-Nigeri, who hail from Daura, Katsina State were
recently captured by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS),
They were both arraigned by the Federal Government on 32 counts of terrorism and related offences.
Of the 32 counts, Bara’a, who is the first defendant, pleaded guilty to Count 10, which was on illegal mining. The presiding judge, Justice Emeka Nwite consequently convicted him of the offence and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.
The second alleged Ansaru Commander, Abubakar Abba who was arraigned alongside the convict however, denied the economic sabotage offence. and all other charges.
Abubakar Abba told the court he was “not guilty to the 32 count charges on terrorism offences,”
The two terror commanders were apprehended in a recent operation by a joint security team in a forest location.
Their capture has been applauded as a major breakthrough in the ongoing fight against insurgency and terrorism in the country.
At the arraignment proceedings, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Mohammed Babadoko Abubakar alleged in the charges that the two defendants committed the crime between 2015 and 2024.
Among others, they were accused of bombing Wawa Military Cantonment in Borgu local government area of Niger State, receiving training in weapon handling and fabrication of improvised explosive devices.
The security agency alleged that they belonged to foreign terror groups, engaged terrorism financing, kidnapping and receiving training on war tactic from a terrorising organization in Mali.
In another charges, DSS accused them of kidnapping a Custom officer and another Immigration Officer who was killed while in their custody.
The Secret Police claimed that the accused persons collected ransom running into millions of naira from families of their victims before the long arms of the DSS captured them.
Similarly, they were accused of engaging in unlawful mining of mineral resources without valid license from which they also made millions of naira.
One of the charges by DSS against the two defendants is that the huge sums made from kidnapping ransom and unlawful minerals mining were deployed to the procurement of huge arms and ammunitions including improvised explosive devices.
The DSS further alleged that the two men received training on terrorism and war tactics in Sudan and Mali and also facilitated same for their followers.
In another charge, they were accused of concealing information on terror attacks on various locations in Niger State.
Following their denial of the charges, Justice Emeka Nwite ordered them to remanded at the DSS facility in Abuja.
The Judge fixed October 21 for commencement of their trial.
In a related development, an alleged gunrunner one Hucaifa Haruna was slammed with 5-count charge by DSS before the court.
The accused person however pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was also ordered to be remanded at the DSS facility pending his trial on October 17.