A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has convicted and sentenced Mahmud Usman, a commander of the proscribed terrorist group, Ansaru, to 15 years imprisonment for engaging in illegal mining activities that funded terrorism and kidnapping operations.
The Department of State Services (DSS) arraigned Usman, who pleaded guilty to charges linking his unlawful mining activities to the acquisition of arms used in acts of terrorism.
Justice Emeka Nwite, who delivered the judgment, also ordered Usman’s continued detention in DSS custody, pending trial on 31 additional charges brought against him.
In the 32-count charge filed by the DSS, Usman and his co-defendant, Abubakar Abba, were accused of carrying out terrorist activities, including a deadly 2022 attack on Wawa Cantonment of the Nigerian Army in Kainji, Niger State, which resulted in mass casualties. They are further alleged to have received training in weapons handling, explosives fabrication, and war tactics from terrorist camps, including those in Mali.
The DSS maintains that Usman and his associates masterminded the July 2022 Kuje Prison attack, freeing over 600 inmates, and planned several other terror operations, such as the Niger uranium facility attack, high-profile kidnappings—including that of French engineer Francis Collomp in 2013—and the 2019 abduction of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba, Magajin Garin Daura.
Confirming the arrest, National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, described Usman as the “self-styled Emir of Ansaru” and coordinator of terrorist sleeper cells nationwide. He added that coordinated security operations also captured his close associate, Mamuda, who allegedly headed the “Mahmudawa” terror cell around Kainji National Park.
Justice Nwite adjourned trial on the outstanding charges to October 21, 2025.
Ansaru, a splinter faction from Boko Haram, first emerged in 2012 in Kano and has been linked to several violent crimes and terror activities across Nigeria.
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