Abuja Court Jails Ansaru Sect Leader Mahmud Usman for 15 Years Over Terrorism
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Abuja Court Jails Ansaru Sect Leader Mahmud Usman for 15 Years Over Terrorism
A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Mahmud Usman, a top commander of the proscribed Ansaru sect, to 15 years imprisonment for terrorism-related offences.
Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a, Abbas, or Mukhtar, pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of engaging in illegal mining and channeling the proceeds into arms procurement for terrorist and kidnapping operations.
Delivering judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite ruled that Usman should remain in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) pending trial on 31 additional charges filed against him.
Usman, who styled himself as the “Emir of Ansaru,” appeared in court alongside his deputy and chief of staff, Mahmud al-Nigeri, popularly known as Malam Mamuda. The duo face a 32-count indictment bordering on terrorism, including leading a proscribed group, financing its operations, recruiting fighters, and orchestrating deadly attacks across Nigeria.
Authorities have linked Ansaru militants to major assaults, such as the July 2022 Kuje Prison attack in Abuja, where over 600 inmates, including 64 Boko Haram suspects, escaped. They were also accused of attacking the Nigerian Army’s Wawa Cantonment in Niger State in 2022, an incident that caused heavy casualties.
Read also: FG arrests masterminds of Kuje prison break, top Al-Qaeda affiliate leaders
National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu described Usman as “the coordinator of terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria and the mastermind of several high-profile kidnappings and armed robberies used to fund terrorism.”
Mamuda, his deputy, reportedly trained in Libya between 2013 and 2015 under jihadist instructors, specialising in weapons handling and improvised explosive device (IED) fabrication.
Both men have also been linked to the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp, the 2019 kidnapping of Magajin Garin Daura, Musa Uba and the abduction of the Emir of Wawa.
