3 terrorists linked to Orire child kidnapping are sentenced to life imprisonment

The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja on Thursday, has sentenced to life imprisonment three terrorists prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for being members of the proscribed terrorist group Darul Salam.

The convicted terrorists are Abdulrazak Umar, alias Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid, Yunusa Musa, alias Yunusa Bin Musa and Shamsu Adamu Sani, alias Abu Itisar.

The three are professed members of Darul Salam, an affiliate of Jamadadtu Asarul Muslima Fi Bilandis Sudan (Ansaru), a proscribed terrorist group.

The conviction by Justice Salim Ibrahim of the Federal High Court, Abuja follows his admission that he was associated with bandits who kidnapped school children and teachers in Orire Local Government Area of ​​Oyo State.

Although they were tried on 10 counts, they also pleaded guilty to counts 4 and 6, among others, a development that prompted the judge to invoke the maximum sentence of life imprisonment against them.

The three convicts brought to court under close surveillance by DSS officers, besides being members of the proscribed terrorist group, confessed to having withheld information about the abduction of the schoolchildren and their teachers.

They admitted that the perpetrators of the kidnapping of the schoolchildren and teachers were their accomplices and that they knew about the banditry but kept it to themselves.

Apart from counts 4 and 6, they jointly pleaded guilty and the first defendant, Abdulrazak Umar, personally admitted guilt to counts 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Umar admitted that he trained and passed instructions to terrorists, that he used a WhatsApp group to propagate radical Islamic ideology, and that he used the same platform to incite people to imbibe radical ideology.

After the guilty plea on the main charges, the examination of the facts was carried out by a DSS officer who described how their statements were recorded in the presence of their lawyers.

The operational code called: “Witness AA”, also informed the court that the convicts had voluntarily confessed in the presence of lawyers.

The investigation reports submitted by the DSS to the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice were submitted and admitted as documents by the court.

Their lead lawyer, Mr AA Shetima, passionately pleaded with the judge in the proceedings to be lenient with his clients.