By Eshiorameh Sebastian in Abuja
Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has issued a comprehensive update on the prosecution of numerous individuals accused of carrying out major terrorist attacks across the country, including the 2011 bombing of the United Nations complex in Abuja, the 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, and the 2025 Yelwata massacre in Benue State.
In a press release, the agency confirmed that the trial of two internationally wanted terrorism suspects, Mahmud Muhammad Usman and Abubakar Abba, will continue on November 19 before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The two men, described as leaders of the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (ANSARU), which the DSS called “Nigeria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate,” were captured in July.
“Usman (aka Abu Bara’a) and Abba (aka Isah Adam and Mahmud Al-Nigeri) were captured in a high-risk, intelligence-led, counter-terrorism operation in July by the Department of State Services (DSS), after several months of chasing them,” the statement read.
The DSS detailed the suspects’ alleged roles, stating that “Usman, the self-styled Emir of ANSARU, allegedly coordinated various terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria. He is believed to have masterminded several high-profile kidnappings and robberies, the proceeds of which were used to finance terrorism over the years.” His deputy, Abba, is alleged to have led the so-called “Mahmudawa” cell operating around Kainji National Park. The two are being tried on a 32-count terrorism charge, to which Usman has already pleaded guilty to one count related to illegal mining and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
In a separate, long-delayed case, the DSS is prosecuting Khalid Al‑Barnawi, accused of being the mastermind of the August 26, 2011, bombing of the United Nations Complex in Abuja. “The trial has been delayed for an extended period due to legal and procedural issues, including the suspects being occasionally brought to court without any counsel appearing for them,” the release stated. The DSS recently secured a request for an accelerated hearing, and a trial-within-trial was conducted on October 23 and 24, during which videos of the defendants’ confessional statements were played in the courtroom.
The agency also provided details on the prosecution of five men arraigned on August 11 for their alleged involvement in the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, where over 40 people died.
“The five defendants were arraigned on a nine-count terrorism charge… in which they are accused among others, of being members of Al Shabab terrorist group, with cell in Kogi State,” the DSS said.
The defendants, who pleaded not guilty, had a bail request rejected on September 10. The DSS noted that “Justice Nwite agreed with the prosecuting lawyer that the evidence against the defendants was strong and could not be overlooked.”
Furthermore, the DSS update covered the ongoing trials related to the Yelwata massacre in Benue State on June 13, 2025, an attack which “drew worldwide condemnation.” The agency stated that in August 2025, it “filed terrorism-related charges before the Federal High Court in Abuja, against nine suspects.” Two of these suspects remain at large.
The DSS also charged “two other suspects, Terkende Ashuwa and Amos Alede of Guma local government area of Benue State, with three counts for allegedly carrying out reprisal attack against the terror suspects involved in the Abinsi and Yelwata attacks.”
Commenting on the breadth of these legal actions, the Director General of the DSS, Tosin Ajayi, said: “The various arrests and trials of terrorism suspects showed that Nigeria’s security agencies have been diligent in dealing with the perpetrators of terror in the country. The men we are prosecuting are separate from the hundreds of suspects under the military’s protective custody, whose cases are being handled by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.”
He concluded, “We shall continue to make the suspects accountable for disrupting the peace of our country, in consonance with the rule of law.”
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