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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The trial of the Ansaru leaders, Mahmud Usman and Abubakar Abba, on terrorism charges at the Abuja division of the Federal High Court has been shifted to November 19.
Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned to a new date following the absence of counsel to the Department of State Service (DSS), Mohammed Abubakar.
The lawyer had in a letter to the registrar of the court apologised for his inability to be in court and sought an adjournment to enable him be present to conduct the trial.
Following no objection to the request, Justice Nwite subsequently fixed November 19 for the trial of the two defendants.
At the last proceedings, the court had sentenced one of the two defendants, Mahmud Muhammed Usman, aka Abu Bara’a, to 15 years for illegal mining.
Usman, who hails from Okene Local Government, Kogi State, and Abubakar Abba, aka Isah Adam or Mahmud Al-Nigeri, from Daura, Katsina State, were arraigned by the DSS on 32 counts of terrorism and related offences.
Of the 32 counts, Usman, who is the first defendant, had pleaded guilty to count 10, which was illegal mining. The presiding judge, Justice Nwite, had 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 Abba were put on trial on terrorism charges by the DSS, but Usman pleaded guilty to count 10 in the 32-count charge, which bordered on economic crime.
While Abba pleaded not guilty to the charges of terrorism offences, Usman denied only 31 counts.
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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 LG, 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 in 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 DSS claimed that the accused persons collected ransom running into millions of naira from families of their victims before the long arms of the law 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 the 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 ammunition, 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 had ordered them to be remanded at the DSS facility in Abuja.
