Two suspected Ansaru commanders have been sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday by the Federal High Court in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) after they pleaded guilty to 32 terrorism-related charges.
Penpushing reports that the convicts, Abubakar Abba (also known as Abu Bara’a) and Mahmud Usman (also known as Isah Adam and Mahmud), were prosecuted by the State Security Service (SSS) on behalf of the Nigerian government.
The Judge Emeka Nwite gave the verdict after the convicts, who were captured last year by Nigerian security forces, changed their earlier “not guilty” to “guilty” , and equally imposed 20 years’ imprisonment on each of the remaining counts and ordered that the prison terms should run from the date of their arrest.
Penpushing further reports that the judge sentenced the duo to life imprisonment on counts 30 and 31, while it would be recalled that State Security Service (SSS) initially arraigned the two suspected Ansaru commanders before the court on 32 terrorism-related charges on September 11, 2025.
The 32 counts included terrorism, terrorism financing, kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, funding terrorism, fabricating improvised explosive devices and related offences, while the State Security Service (SSS) equally alleged that they coordinated sleeper cells, orchestrated attacks and maintained links with Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist groups operating across the Sahel and Maghreb regions.
Penpushing also reports that the duo pleaded not guilty to the charges at the time, and the trial later stalled after defence lawyer Bala Dakum complained that the agency officials denied him access to the defendants to prepare their defence.
The prosecution when proceedings resumed, opened its case with testimony from an State Security Service (SSS) operative identified by the codename “Triple A’, while the witness informed the court that the defendants confessed to receiving weapons training in Libya.
Penpushing reports that the prosecution said the accused admitted belonging to Ansaru and maintained links with terrorist groups operating across the Sahel and Maghreb regions, however, the two defendants earlier on Monday opted to change their initial not-guilty pleas, prompting the court to direct the 32 charges to be read to them afresh.
Meanwhile, the duo pleaded guilty to each of the 32 counts as court official read out the charges one after the other to the them.
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