Spread the word
A witness for the federal government Tuesday told the Federal High Court in Abuja how Al-Ql-Qeada, an international terrorist organisation, supported members of the Ansaru terrorist group to stage the May 15 attacks on schools in Oriire local government, Oyo state.
The witness, identified as “BBB,” who testified before Justice Salim Ibrahim said the attack was to force the federal government to release their leaders who were arrested and are being prosecuted.
He told the court that upon the kidnap of the students and teachers, the terrorists submitted a list containing 30 names of their leaders and demanded they must be released else they would kill the victims.
BBB, a 2nd prosecution witness (PW-2) in the ongoing trial of the five suspected members of Jama’’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (Ansaru), confirmed knowing the five defendants in the course of his official duties.
The suspects are Mahmud Muhammad (aka Abu Bara’a, Abbas Mukhtar); Abubakar Abbas (aka Isah Adam, Mallam Mahmuda Al-Nigeri); Abdulrazak Umar (aka Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid); Yunusa Musa (aka Abu Yunusa Bin Musa) and Shamsu Adamu Sani (aka Abu Itisar).
The prosecution said the defendants are from Okene local government area , Kogi state; Daura LGA, Katsina state, and Suleja LGA, Niger state.
Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF), Oyedepo Rotimi, SAN, BBB said the operation effected by security agents, leading to the kidnap victims’ rescue, was informed by the FG’s refusal to negotiate with the terrorists and play by their demands.
The witness stated further that he particularly knew the 1st defendant (Muhammad) in Maiduguri as one of the founding fathers of Boko Haram, who once served as the group’s Head of Security and Intelligence.
He said Muhammad, whose father is from Okene in Kogi, and his mother from Borno, was among those who left Boko Haram in 2012 and set up the Ansaru group to propagate their ideology of establishing Islamic governance in the country and carrying out attacks on foreign nationals.
The witness said the group’s members believed that foreign nationals were killing their Muslim brothers abroad, hence their decision to kidnap and kill foreigners.
He recalled that the group’s killing of seven foreigners in 2014 made the United States to designate Ansaru as a proscribed terrorist group and declared Muhammad a globally-wanted terrorist.
BBB said Muhammad led a series of kidnapping and killing operations when he took over the leadership of Ansaru and named the 2nd defendant (Abbas) as the Head of Operations.
“He, Mahmud Mohammed, led the attack on the Emir of Potiskum. 17 military officers and three civilians were also killed in one of the operations,” he said.
Spread the word