The Federal Government has filed a 10-count terrorism charge against three men arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS, over the recent kidnapping of school children and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The charges, filed on Friday before the Federal High Court in Abuja, name the defendants as Abdulrazak Umar (a.k.a. Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid), Yunusa Musa (a.k.a. Yunusa bin Musa), and Shamsu Adamu Sani (a.k.a. Abu Itisar) — all adult residents of Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State.
The charge sheet covers a sweeping range of offences including terrorism, kidnapping, concealment of information, incitement, membership of a proscribed group, and illegal gold mining.
According to the prosecution, the three men conspired between January and May 2026 with three other suspects — Muhammad Sani, Jibril Mohammed and Ibrahim Khabab — to kidnap pupils and teachers at a school in Oriire LGA, in violation of Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
They are further accused of aiding the abduction and of deliberately concealing what they knew about the identities and movements of the alleged masterminds from security agencies, contrary to Sections 26(2) and 16(1) of the same Act.
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In a particularly damning count, the government alleges that on or about 2 June 2026, the trio professed membership of Darul Salam, described in the charge sheet as an affiliate of Jamaatu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan (Ansaru) — a group long proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Nigeria. That charge is brought under Section 25(1) of the Terrorism Act.
The first defendant, Abdulrazak Umar, faces additional personal counts. Prosecutors say he ran a WhatsApp group titled “The Oneness of Allah is the Foundation of Peace,” through which he allegedly provided training and instructions to terrorists and incited members to carry out acts of terrorism.
Those counts fall under Sections 15 and 2(2)(g) of the Terrorism Act and Section 18 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015.
Umar is also accused, in the tenth and final count, of engaging in unlawful gold mining at streams within the Chaza area of Suleja LGA between 2024 and 2026, in breach of Section 8(b) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act.
A security source told our correspondent that investigations into the case have been concluded, and the suspects are expected to be arraigned in court next week.
“Others are still being probed as the DSS is insistent on diligent investigation,” the source added, signalling that more arrests and possibly additional charges may follow as the secret police widens its net around the network behind the Oriire school abduction.
The Oriire attack is the latest in a string of mass school kidnappings that have rattled Nigeria in recent years, renewing pressure on security agencies to dismantle the armed groups terrorising communities across the North-Central and South-West corridors.
Crediblenewsng.com
