Department of State Services (DSS) has announced plans to appeal the life imprisonment handed to two senior commanders of the Ansaru terrorist group, insisting that the punishment does not reflect the gravity of their crimes.
Gatekeepers News reports that the agency said it would seek the death penalty for the convicted terrorists following Monday’s judgment by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The convicts, Mahmud Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a, Abbas or Mukhtar, the self-styled Emir of Ansaru, and Mahmud al-Nigeri, also known as Malam Mamuda, were sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to a 32-count terrorism charge.
Justice Emeka Nwite imposed the sentence after the two men changed their plea from not guilty to guilty and appealed for leniency through their lawyer.
Reacting to the judgment, a senior DSS official described the sentence as inadequate, arguing that the offences committed by the convicts warranted the maximum punishment under the law.
The official revealed that the two commanders had initially indicated their intention to plead guilty but later changed their position during the period when pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State were being held captive by suspected Ansaru members.
According to the DSS, one of the major demands made by the kidnappers was the unconditional release of the two Ansaru commanders in exchange for the abducted victims.
The agency said two teachers were eventually beheaded by the terrorists to pressure the government into releasing the suspects, arguing that allowing the convicted commanders to serve life imprisonment would not adequately deliver justice to the victims and their families.
DSS maintained that it would challenge the judgment at the appellate court in pursuit of the death penalty, stressing that the severity of the offences, which included acts of terrorism linked to multiple attacks, justified a harsher sentence.
