THE Department of State Services (DSS) said it will appeal the life sentences of two top commanders of the Ansaru terror organisation to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, July 20.
Justice Emeka Nwite had, shortly after the two notorious terrorists made a U-turn and pleaded guilty to the 32-count terrorism charge, marked: FHC//ABJ/CR/464/2025, sentenced them to life imprisonment, following their plea for leniency.
The convicts are self-styled Emir of Ansaru, Mahmud Usman, a.k.a Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhta; and his deputy/chief of staff, Abubakar Abba, a.k.a Mahmud al-Nigeri/Malam Mamuda.
Justice Nwite held that he was minded to temper justice with mercy following the allocutus of the defendants’ lawyer, Bala Dakum, and Usman, who pleaded on behalf of the two convicts in sentencing them to a life imprisonment in counts 30 and 31, 20-year jail term, without an option of fine, in counts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 32, respectively.
The Judge also sentenced them to a 15-year imprisonment, without option of fine, and ordered that the sentencing shall run concurrently from the date of their arrest.
The convicts had earlier pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned on September 11, last year after their arrest in separate operations between May and July 2025 by DSS operatives.
Though the two of them pleaded not guilty to the counts, only Usman pleaded guilty to count 10 of the 32, which bordered on illegal mining for funding terrorism/arms and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
The first defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the remaining 31 counts, while Abba pleaded not guilty to all charges.
However, after months of trial, their Counsel, Dakum, informed the court on Monday at the resumption of trial that following his consultation with the defendants, they had decided to change their plea from not guilty to a guilty in all the counts.
He stated: “After having consultation with the defendants my lord, they have agreed and are ready to change their plea and we apply that the charge be ready to them accordingly.”
This was not opposed by prosecution Counsel, David Kaswe; hence the 32 counts were read to the defendants again for them to take their plea, to which pleaded guilty.
Kaswe then applied that they be convicted in line with Section 274 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, citing a 2017 previous case delivered by the Supreme Court to back his application.
He argued that the guilty plea was direct and pointed irresistibly to the fact that the defendants committed the offences charged, adding: “I urge this honourable court to draw strength from the ACJA, 2015 I just cited and the apex court’s decision also cited and convict the defendants on all the 32 counts on the charge sheet filed by the prosecution.
Thereafter, Justice Nwite convicted the defendants as charged in all the 32 counts in accordance with Section 274 of ACJA, after the allocutus by Dakum for the court to temper justice with mercy, saying his clients had appreciated the intensity of the offence and their admittance of guilt was not borne out of the attempt to trivialise the offence.
Saying that though sentencing generally is a matter of discretion, Dakum prayed the court to exercise its discretion judicially and judiciously, referring to the two previous cited cases to back his application.
Dakum disclosed that Usman is a 50-year-old man with 19 children and “is also suffering from arthritis and desires to go back to school” to be a changed person, while Abba, a 34-years-old man with three children and a wife, is also suffering from arthritis and is the bread winner of their family.
The Counsel told the court that the defendants, in their affidavits, deposed that they were drawn into terrorism by coercion and were “they were never willing to go into such act, while admitting that the acts committed were not intentional at all.”
He stated that the defendants were being monitored and their lives and those of their family members are under threat by others still at large, and that if given lenient penalty, were willing to assist the security agencies through information sharing.
According to him: “The convicts informed me of their willingness to provide the security agencies with intelligence and information about anything relating with terrorism in Nigeria, their network, financing, intelligence, etc.
“While they are not justifying their actions this morning, they are willing to support the security agencies.”
He stated that the essence of punishment is not only to punish, but also to correct and serve as deterrent, and prayed the court to exercise its discretion in favour of his clients.
This was re-echoed by Usman, when given the opportunity to address the court, pleading with the court to have mercy on them, saying they decided to change their pleas so as not to waste the time of the court in the trial since they regretted their actions.
However, a senior DSS official told journalists that the Service considered the life sentence as too light, considering the gravity of the crimes committed by the convicts.
He said it was curious that both convicts were on the verge of pleading guilty to the charges, but changed their minds shortly after some persons believed to be members of the same organisation kidnapped pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Council of Oyo State.
Recall that kidnappers had listed the release of the convicted terrorists as part of the conditions for the release of the victims until they regained their freedom last week.
According to the official: “For the nearly 60 days the kidnappers held on to the pupils and teachers of Oriire, the Ansaru commanders in our custody changed.
“One of the top conditions the abductors gave was the unconditional release of these same Ansaru commanders in exchange for the Oriire kidnap victims.”
He stated that from ‘not guilty plea,’ the two men at the last court session said they were undecided on what plea to take, adding: “Justice Nwite even had to hand them an ultimatum to make up their minds on or before Monday’s sitting.
“After the Oriire rescue, they came to court to plead guilty to all the charges.”
He added: “Allowing the two terror commanders walk away with life sentences will not serve the cause of justice for the two Oriire teachers beheaded by their abductors.
“The reason the terrorists beheaded the two Oriire teachers was to put pressure on government to release these two Ansaru commanders.
“It, therefore, wouldn’t be fair to see two men beheaded and their families made to live with the losses without adequately bringing the culprits to book.”
The convicts, who were charged with terrorism financing, kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, funding terrorism, fabricating Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), among others, were also accused of coordinating sleeper cells, attacks and ties to Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group, including groups in the Sahel/Maghreb, contrary to Section 21 of the Terrorism (of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022) and punishable under Section 21 (2) (a) of the same Act.
In count 31, they were alleged to have, sometimes between 2015 and 2025, in Katsina and Niger states, financed terrorism activities by using ransoms received from victims of kidnapping to procure arms and explosives, contrary to Section 21 of the Terrorism (of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022) and punishable under Section 21 (2) (a) of the same Act.
In July 2022, the Ansaru militants were linked to the attack on Kuje Prison in Abuja, where over 600 inmates, including 64 Boko Haram suspects, escaped.
Usman 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,” while Abba was said to have trained in Libya between 2013 and 2015 under foreign jihadist instructors from Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria in weapons handling and IED fabrication.
