The Federal Government will on Thursday bring two top leaders of the Ansaru terrorist group before the Federal High Court in Abuja to face terrorism charges.
The suspects are Mahmud Muhammed Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a or Abbas Mukhtar, and his deputy, Abubakar Abba, also called Isah Adam or Mahmud Al-Nigeri. Both men, described by authorities as senior commanders of Ansaru, will be arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite.
They are facing a 32-count charge filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, M.B. Abubakar, on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/464/2025, was filed on September 4.
In the charge, prosecutors alleged that between 2013 and 2015, Abu Bara’a from Okene in Kogi State and Mahmud Al-Nigeri from Daura in Katsina State conspired to lead the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimeena Fii Bilaadis Sudan, also known as Ansaru, a proscribed terrorist organisation in Nigeria.
“You thereby commit an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 17 of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013 and punishable under the same Section of the Act,” part of the charge reads.
The document also accused the men of receiving training in weapons handling and in the making of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from terrorist camps. They were further charged with receiving war tactics training from Jama’atu Nusratil Islami Wal Muslimin (JNIM), a Mali-based terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda.
In another count, they were linked to the deadly attack on Wawa Cantonment of the Nigerian Army in Kainji, Niger State, in 2022, which left many casualties.
The National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, had on August 16 announced their arrest after what he described as “a high-risk, intelligence-led operation” carried out by Nigerian security and intelligence agencies between May and July 2025.
“These men had been on both national and international terror watch lists,” Ribadu said while briefing reporters in Abuja.
Ansaru, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group, has been blamed for several kidnappings and violent attacks across the country in recent years.
