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ABUJA -Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, adjourned the trial of two leaders of the Ansaru Terrorism group, Mahmud Usman and Abubakar Abba, over allegations of terrorism to November 19.
The scheduled trial was adjourned following the absence of counsel to the Department of State Services (DSS), Mohammed Abubakar.
Abubakar had, in a letter to the registrar of the court, apologized for his failure to be in court and sought an adjournment to enable him to attend the next Court sitting.
As the lawyers to the defendants did not raise any objection to the oral application, Justice Nwite subsequently slated November 19 for the trial to begin.
The security agency alleged that they belonged to foreign terror groups, engaged in terrorism financing, kidnapping, and receiving training on war tactics from a terrorizing organization in Mali.
In another charge, DSS accused them of kidnapping a Customs 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 DSS captured them.
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 Area of Kogi State, and Abubakar Abba aka Isah Adam or Mahmud Al-Nigeri, who hails from Daura, Katsina State, were arraigned by the DSS on a 32-count terrorism related offences.
Of the 32 counts, Usman, the first defendant, had pleaded guilty to count 10, which was on illegal mining.
The presiding judge, Justice Emeka 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 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 pertained to 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.
Also, 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.
They were alleged to have engaged 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 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 the same for their followers.
In another charge, they were accused of concealing information on terror attacks on various locations in Niger State.
