Orire Abduction: Accused persons plead guilty to terror group membership, information concealment

The three accused persons put on trial by the Department of State Services, DSS), over the Orire scholl abduction, have pleaded guilty to membership of proscribed terrorist group.

At their arraignment on terrorism charges on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Abdulrazak Umar, alias Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid; Yunusa Musa, alias Yunusa Bin Musa; and Shamsu Adamu Sani, alias Abu Itisar, also admitted guilt to concealling information on the planning and execution of the School children and teachers at Orire local government area of Osun state.

However, only the first accused person, Abdulrazak Umar, alias Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid pleaded guilty to counts 7, 8, 9 and 10 which bordered on training and passing instructions and inciting terror group members on a particular religion ideology.

At the time of this report, the review of facts of charges was being carried out by operatives of the DSS preparatory to their sentence.

The three accused persons were out on trial by DSS on a 10-count charge bordering on kidnapping, concealment of information, and terrorism-related offences.

According to the charges, the defendants, all from Niger State, are accused of knowingly withholding information about individuals linked to terrorist activities, participating in kidnapping, and using a messaging platform to facilitate terrorist training.

Details later…