The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced two top leaders of the Ansaru terrorist group, suspected of masterminding the 2022 Kuje prison break, to life imprisonment.
Justice Emeka Nwite sentenced the two men to life imprisonment on Monday after they pleaded guilty to the charges.
The convicts are Mahmud Usman (aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar), the self-styled Emir of Ansaru, and Mahmud al-Nigeri (aka Malam Mamuda).
During the proceedings, Bala Dakum, counsel to the defendants, said his clients had decided to change their earlier pleas on the 32-count terrorism charge filed by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Counsel to the DSS did not oppose the request but asked the court to allow the charges to be read again.
After the charges were read, the defendants pleaded guilty to all 32 counts.
Following their guilty plea, the judge sentenced the two men to life imprisonment on counts 30 and 31.
The judge also sentenced them to 20 years’ imprisonment on each of the remaining counts. The sentences will run concurrently.
In September 2025, the DSS arraigned the two men, who pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In August 2025, Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), said security forces had arrested the Ansaru leaders suspected of masterminding the 2022 Kuje prison break, during which more than 600 inmates, including 64 Boko Haram suspects, escaped.
Ribadu linked the duo to multiple terrorist attacks, including the 2022 Kuje prison break and an attack on a uranium facility in Niger State.
The suspects allegedly attacked the Nigerian Army’s Wawa Cantonment in Kainji, Niger State, in 2022, causing mass casualties.
