A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, sentenced one of the two Ansaru leaders recently captured by the Department of State Services (DSS), Mahmud Muhammed Usman a.k.a Abu Bara’a, to 15 years for illegal mining.
Ansaru, also known by its Arabic name, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan (“Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa”) is also less commonly called Al-Qaeda in the Lands Beyond the Sahel, is an Islamic fundamentalist Jihadist militant organisation originally based in the northeast of Nigeria
On May 24, 2023, the Nigerian government proscribed it as a terrorist group.
The Ansaru leader, Bara’a, who hails from Okene Local Government Area (LGA) of Kogi State, and Abubakar Abba aka Isah Adam or Mahmud Al-Nigeri, who hail from Daura, Katsina State, were arraigned by the DSS on a 32-count 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 crime 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.
Usman and Abubakar Abba were put on trial on terrorism charges by the DSS but Usman pleaded guilty to count 10 in the 32 count charges which bothered on economic crime.
While Abubakar Abba pleaded not guilty to the 32 count charges on terrorism offences, Usman denied only 31 counts.
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.
Usman, who styled himself as the “Emir of Ansaru”, appeared in the dock alongside his deputy and chief of staff, Mahmud al-Nigeri, widely referred to as Malam Mamuda.
The two men face a 32-count indictment alleging they led a terrorist organisation, financed its activities, recruited fighters, and coordinated violent attacks across Nigeria.
In July 2022, Ansaru militants were linked to the attack on Kuje prison in Abuja, where over 600 inmates, including 64 Boko Haram suspects, escaped.
In 2022, the suspects allegedly attacked the Nigerian Army’s Wawa Cantonment in Kainji, Niger state, causing mass casualties.
National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, had described the two arrested Commanders as masterminds of the jail break.
Abu Bara was described as the “coordinator of terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria and the mastermind of several high-profile kidnappings and armed robberies used to fund terrorism.”
His deputy, Malam Mamuda, was said to have trained in Libya between 2013 and 2015 under foreign jihadist instructors from Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, specialising in weapons handling and improvised explosive device (IED) fabrication.
The NSA added that the suspects were also named in the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina State, the 2019 kidnapping of Musa Uba (Magajin Garin Daura), and the abduction of the Emir of Wawa.
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 they were captured.
Similarly, they were accused of engaging in unlawful mining of mineral resources without valid licence 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 Nwite ordered them to remanded at the DSS facility in Abuja.
The judge fixed October for commencement of their trial.
In another charge, an alleged gunrunner, Hucaifa Haruna, was slammed with 5-count charge by DSS before the same judge.
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.
The two terror commanders were apprehended in a recent operation by a joint security team in a forest location.
