Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced two senior commanders of the Ansaru terrorist group, an al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist organisation, to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to multiple terrorism-related offences.
Justice Emeka Nwite handed down the sentence on Friday after convicting Abubakar Abba, popularly known as Abu Baraa, and Mahmud Usman, also known as Mamuda, on a 32-count charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) on behalf of the Federal Government.
The charges included terrorism, terrorism financing, kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and other offences linked to terrorist operations.
The court sentenced both men to life imprisonment on counts 30 and 31, while imposing additional 20-year prison terms on the remaining counts. Justice Nwite ordered that the sentences on the other counts should take effect from the date of their arrest.
According to the prosecution, the two men were among the most senior leaders of Ansaru, a terrorist group designated by the Nigerian government and widely regarded as an affiliate of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
The DSS arrested the suspects in separate intelligence-led operations between May and July 2025 after years on Nigeria’s most-wanted list.
At their arraignment in September 2025, the Federal Government accused the duo of coordinating terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria and maintaining operational links with extremist groups operating in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Prosecutors alleged that the two commanders played key roles in some of the country’s most significant terrorist attacks and kidnappings over the past decade.
The charges included their alleged involvement in the July 2022 attack on the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje, Abuja, during which more than 600 inmates escaped, as well as the 2022 attack on the Nigerian Army’s Wawa Cantonment in Niger State.
The prosecution also accused them of masterminding the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina State, the 2019 kidnapping of the Magajin Garin Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar Uba, and several other kidnappings and armed robberies allegedly carried out to finance terrorist activities.
According to court documents, investigators also linked the defendants to plans to attack a uranium facility in Niger State and alleged that they received specialised training in weapons handling, battlefield tactics and the fabrication of improvised explosive devices at terrorist camps in Mali and Libya.
Before their arrest, the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) had described Abu Baraa as the self-styled leader of Ansaru and Mamuda as his deputy and chief of staff.
National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu had said the pair oversaw a network of sleeper cells operating across northern Nigeria, particularly around the Kainji National Park axis spanning Niger and Kwara states and extending into the Benin Republic.
Ribadu described their arrest as one of Nigeria’s most significant counterterrorism breakthroughs, saying it dealt a decisive blow to Ansaru’s leadership structure.
Ansaru emerged in 2012 as a splinter faction of Boko Haram and later aligned itself with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The group has been linked to numerous attacks on security personnel, government facilities and civilians, as well as high-profile kidnappings across northern Nigeria.
The convictions mark one of the most significant terrorism prosecutions secured by Nigerian authorities against the leadership of the extremist group in recent years.