DSS Rejects Court Verdict, Moves Against Ansaru Commanders

(High Court. Phoot by Daily Nigeria)

The Department of State Services (DSS) says it will appeal the life sentences handed to two senior commanders of the Ansaru t3rrorist group, insisting the punishment does not reflect the gravity of their crimes, particularly the k!lling of two teachers abduct3d in Oriire, Oyo State.

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday sentenced Mahmud Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a, Abbas or Mukhtar, described as the self-styled Emir of Ansaru, and Abubakar Abba, also known as Mahmud al-Nigeri or Malam Mamuda, to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to all 32 charges brought against them.

A senior DSS official, however, said the agency considers the sentence too lenient and will seek the maximum penalty on appeal.

The official disclosed that the two commanders had initially intended to plead guilty but changed their position after Ansaru-linked gunmen abduct3d pupils and teachers in Oriire, explaining that for nearly 60 days while the k!dnappers held the pupils and teachers, the position of the Ansaru commanders in custody shifted, noting that one of the key demands made by the abductors was the unconditional release of these same commanders in exchange for the Oriire k!dnap victims.

He added that the defendants delayed entering their pleas until after the rescue operation was concluded, explaining that from an earlier not-guilty plea, the two men appeared undecided at the penultimate court session, prompting Justice Nwite to give them an ultimatum to make up their minds ahead of Monday’s sitting.

He said it was only after the Oriire rescue that they returned to court to plead guilty to all the charges.

The DSS official argued that life imprisonment would not deliver justice for the two teachers who were behe@ded while in captivity, explaining that the t3rrorists carried out the k!llings specifically to pressure the government into releasing the two Ansaru commanders.

He maintained that it would not be fair for two men to be behe@ded, leaving their families to live with the loss, without the perpetrators being adequately brought to book.