The Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja has mounted January 15, 2026, for the graduation of the trial of two alleged leaders of the Ansaru terrorist group, Mahmud Usman and Abubakar Abba.
The trial was earlier slated to start on Wednesday, however Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the proceedings following a plea by defence counsel, B. I. Bakum, who instructed the court docket he was but to be served with the costs and proof of proof held by the Division of State Companies (DSS), the place the defendants are presently detained.
Bakum additionally urged the court docket to order the switch of his shoppers to a correctional centre to facilitate simpler entry forward of trial.
Nevertheless, DSS counsel, David Kaswe, an Assistant Director on the Federal Ministry of Justice, opposed the request, insisting the trial ought to proceed since prosecution witnesses have been already in court docket.
He defined that the DSS requires formal written requests earlier than counsel can entry detainees, including that the defence had not fulfilled this requirement.
Kaswe requested the court docket to compel the defence lawyer to adjust to DSS protocol and replica the prosecution in all correspondence to make sure clean proceedings.
In a quick ruling, Justice Nwite held {that a} truthful listening to demanded that the defendants’ counsel be given satisfactory time to review the case file. He then shifted the trial to January 15, 2026, ordering the defence to formally write the DSS for entry and replica the prosecution on all future letters.
Usman and Abba are dealing with a 32-count terrorism cost introduced by the DSS. Usman has pleaded responsible to Rely 10, which pertains to financial crimes, however denied the remaining 31 counts. Abba pleaded not responsible to all fees.
In September, Usman, often known as Abu Bara’a, was sentenced to fifteen years in jail after admitting that he engaged in unlawful mining and used the proceeds to accumulate weapons for terrorism and kidnapping.
The defendants are accused of committing varied terrorism-related offences between 2015 and 2024, together with bombing the Wawa Navy
Cantonment in Niger State, receiving weapons coaching, fabricating IEDs, kidnapping safety operatives, partaking in terrorism financing, and belonging to international terror networks.
They have been additionally alleged to have engaged in unlawful mining, incomes thousands and thousands of naira used to acquire arms and ammunition, together with improvised explosive units. The DSS claims they acquired coaching in Sudan and Mali, and likewise educated their followers.
Each suspects have been apprehended in intelligence-led operations between Could and July 2025.
Justice Nwite had earlier ordered their remand on the DSS facility pending trial.
Ansaru, a splinter faction of Boko Haram, has been linked to a number of high-profile assaults and kidnappings throughout Nigeria.
