The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced three men to life imprisonment for their roles in the kidnapping of students and teachers from a school in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The court found them guilty after they admitted to some of the charges brought against them by the Federal Government.
The judgment was delivered on Thursday by Justice Salim Ibrahim after the defendants pleaded guilty to parts of a 10-count charge involving terrorism, kidnapping, concealment of information, incitement and illegal mining.
The convicts are Abdulrazak Umar, also known as Abu Khalifa or Abu Khalid, Yunusa Musa, also known as Yunusa bin Musa, and Shamsu Adamu Sani, also known as Abu Itisar.
During the proceedings, the three men admitted that they concealed information about those who planned and carried out the attack on the school. They also admitted belonging to Darul Salam, which the government identified as an affiliate of the banned terrorist group Jamaatu Asarul Muslima Fi Bilandis Sudan, also known as Ansaru.
The three defendants pleaded guilty to counts four and six of the charge. Umar also admitted guilt on counts seven, eight, nine and ten, which accused him of providing training and instructions to terrorists through a WhatsApp group called “The Oneness of Allah is the Foundation of Peace.”
They, however, denied the remaining charges filed against them.
Following their guilty pleas, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, who led the Federal Government’s legal team, asked the court to convict and sentence the defendants based on the offences they had admitted.
The prosecution told the court that the three men, all from Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, worked with Muhammad Sani, Jibril Mohammed and Ibrahim Khabab between January and May 2026 to kidnap schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State.
According to the charges, the defendants also assisted in carrying out the kidnapping and deliberately withheld information about the identities and activities of those behind the attack despite knowing about the plan.
The Federal Government further accused them of admitting membership of the banned group on June 2, an act it said violated the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
After considering their guilty pleas, the court convicted the three men on the relevant counts and sentenced each of them to life imprisonment.
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of News PLATFORM or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!