A Department of State Services investigator on Tuesday informed the Federal High Court in Abuja that terror kingpin Shugaba, leader of the group behind the 2022 Abuja–Kaduna train attack, allegedly offered Tukur Mamu a ₦50 million cut from ransom proceeds.
The operative, who appeared as the sixth prosecution witness (PW-6) in Mamu’s terrorism trial, testified before Justice Mohammed Umar while being led in evidence by DSS counsel David Kaswe.
For security reasons, the witness gave evidence from behind a screen.
He told the court that the terror group had also asked Mamu to teach them how to create a website for their activities.
His testimony came while interpreting four audio recordings played in court, capturing alleged conversations between Mamu and the attackers who held passengers hostage.
The recordings were retrieved from Mamu’s mobile devices after his arrest in Egypt and subsequent extradition to Nigeria.
“The first voice note that played was for defendant (Mamu) fixing a date for delivery of ransom.
“The second voice note that played for five minutes was the voice of Shugaba, the leader of the terrorist group.
“In the voice note, he was appreciating the defendant’s effort and ask him to remove N50 million for his personal use from a particular tranche of ransom sent to them.
“The last voice note that played, Baba Adamu, who is their spokesperson, was heard requesting the defendant to help them procure speakers and public address system for their preaching activities and the defendant responded that he was going to look into their request.
“They also requested that the defendant teach them how to open website for their activities,” the witness said.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mamu is accused of persuading the terrorists to negotiate ransom individually with families of kidnapped passengers rather than through the Chief of Defence Staff Committee appointed by the Federal Government, allegedly for personal financial gain. He was reportedly selected by the attackers to act as an intermediary after the March 2022 abductions.
The witness testified that once Mamu was intercepted in Egypt, he phoned his in-law, identified as Mubarak Tinja, instructing him to evacuate cash, vehicles and valuables from his residence to prevent their discovery by security agencies.
“The defendant was subsequently arrested in Egypt and returned back to Nigeria, where a team of investigators were on ground to receive him.
“A duly endorsed search warrant was duly executed in his property and office in Kaduna, during which cash, in both local and foreign currencies; vehicles and other valuables were recovered.
“In compliance with his directive to his in law, Mubarak Tinja, and the other dependants in the house, some cars and cash were moved out of the house to various locations,” he said.
He added that investigators later traced items including about $300,000 and seven vehicles—among them a Toyota Camry (Muscle), Peugeot 5008, Lexus, Mercedes E350 and Hyundai. The prosecution tendered vehicle documents through the witness, and they were admitted in evidence.
The witness said Mamu surrendered a Samsung tablet and two phones upon arrival in Nigeria, which were sent for forensic analysis. “The outcome of the forensic analysis, included the voice notes of the conversation between the defendant and the terrorists,” he said, adding that Mamu admitted instructing Mubarak to move valuables and acknowledged communication with the terrorists via voice notes extracted from his devices.
He also testified that Mamu admitted owning a pump-action gun recovered from his home, though investigators found that the licence had expired in December 2021. He said most of the audio content was in Hausa and that he translated a portion into English due to the large volume.
Kaswe tendered the recordings, stored on compact discs and a flash drive; the court admitted them after Mamu’s lawyer, Johnson Usman, reserved his objection for the final address. The recordings were then played in open court.
The witness further revealed that two victims provided written statements recounting their ordeal, though they later declined to testify in person due to trauma. The court admitted their statements without objection.
Additionally, eight statements made by Mamu during interrogation, along with video recordings of the sessions, were admitted as exhibits.
Kaswe informed the court he would file a formal request for the judge to visit the storage location of the items recovered from Mamu’s home and office. Justice Umar adjourned the trial to November 26 at 11 a.m. for continuation.
