A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced Mahmud Usman, a senior commander of the proscribed terrorist group Ansaru, to 15 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to illegal mining activities used to procure arms for terrorism and kidnapping.
The charge was brought by the Department of State Services (DSS).
According to the court proceedings, the illegal mining enabled Usman to “acquire arms for terrorism and kidnapping purposes.”
Justice Emeka Nwite presided over the case, and pending the trial of the thirty‑one other charges against him, Usman was remanded in DSS custody.
Usman and another suspect, Abubakar Abba, are accused in a 32‑count charge of various acts of terrorism dating back to 2022, including the attack on Wawa Cantonment in Kainji, New Bussa, in Niger State, which resulted in mass casualties.
Other allegations against them include receiving training in weapons handling, war tactics, and fabrication of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from terror camps, including training in Mali, according to the DSS.
The court also noted that they are implicated in the July 2022 Kuje prison break, which freed over 600 inmates, several kidnappings (notably of French engineer Francis Collomp in 2013), and other armed robberies, including the 2019 abduction of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba and the kidnapping of the Magajin Garin Daura.
Justice Nwite has fixed October 21 for the trial to begin in relation to the remaining charges.
