A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced two senior commanders of the Ansaru terrorist group to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to terrorism charges linked to some of the group’s deadliest attacks in Nigeria, including the 2022 Kuje prison break.
Gatekeepers News reports that thebconvicts, Mahmud Muhammad Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a, Abbas or Mukhtar, the self-proclaimed Emir of Ansaru, and Mahmud al-Nigeri, also known as Malam Mamuda, changed their earlier not guilty pleas to guilty during Monday’s proceedings before Justice Emeka Nwite.
Their lawyer, Bala Dakum, informed the court of their decision, while counsel to the Department of State Services (DSS) requested that the 32-count charge be read again before the fresh plea was entered.
Following their guilty plea, Justice Nwite sentenced the two men to life imprisonment on counts 30 and 31 of the charge. He also imposed 20 years’ imprisonment on each of the remaining counts, ordering that all the sentences run concurrently.
The two men were first arraigned by the DSS in September 2025, where they denied the allegations. National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu had earlier disclosed that security operatives arrested the suspects in connection with the July 2022 Kuje prison attack, which led to the escape of more than 600 inmates, including dozens of Boko Haram suspects. They were also linked to attacks on the Nigerian Army’s Wawa Cantonment in Niger State and a uranium mining facility in the state.
Shortly after the judgment, the DSS announced plans to appeal the sentence, arguing that life imprisonment was too lenient considering the gravity of the offences. The agency said it would seek the death penalty, insisting that the punishment should reflect the scale of the attacks and the loss of lives attributed to the convicted terrorists.
