Metro/Crime

Court sentences three for life over Oyo school abduction

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A Federal High Court in Abuja has jailed three men to life imprisonment after they were found complicit in the abduction of students and teachers from a school in Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Justice Salim Ibrahim delivered the sentences after Abdulrazak Umar (also known as Abu Khalifa or Abu Khalid), Yunusa Musa (alias Yunusa bin Musa), and Shamsu Adamu Sani (alias Abu Itisar) pleaded guilty to some counts in the Federal Government’s 10-count charge against them.

The trio had been arraigned on Thursday to face charges spanning terrorism, kidnapping, concealment, incitement, and illegal mining. During the arraignment, they admitted withholding information about those who masterminded the school attack and confessed to belonging to Darul Salam, a group identified as an affiliate of Ansaru (Jamaatu Asarul Muslima Fi Bilandis Sudan), an organisation banned in Nigeria as a terrorist entity.

All three entered guilty pleas to counts four and six. Umar alone additionally pleaded guilty to counts seven through 10, which accused him of training and instructing terrorist recruits through a WhatsApp group called “The Oneness of Allah is the Foundation of Peace.”

The defendants denied wrongdoing on every other count.

Following the guilty pleas, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who headed the prosecution team, urged the court to proceed with sentencing on the admitted counts.

According to the charges, the three men, all residents of Suleja Local Government Area in Niger State, conspired with Muhammad Sani, Jibril Mohammed, and Ibrahim Khabab between January and May 2026 to kidnap schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State, an offence under Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Prosecutors also alleged that the defendants assisted in carrying out the abduction and concealed information about the masterminds’ identities and activities despite being aware of the plot, in violation of Sections 26(2) and 16(1) of the Act, respectively.

The Federal Government further alleged that, around 2 June 2026, the defendants admitted membership of the banned group, an act that breached Section 25(1) of the same Act.