The Department of State Services (DSS) has moved to challenge the life imprisonment sentences imposed on three convicted members of the Ansaru terrorist group, insisting that the crimes committed warrant the death penalty.
The security agency disclosed that it would appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, maintaining that life imprisonment was inadequate given the severity of the offences, including the killing of two teachers during the abduction of pupils and staff in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Justice Salim Ibrahim had sentenced Abdulrazak Umar, also known as Abu Khalifa or Abu Khalid, Yunusa Musa, popularly called Yunusa Bin Musa, and Shamsu Adamu Sani, alias Abu Itisar, after they pleaded guilty to multiple terrorism-related charges filed by the DSS.
The convicts admitted being members of Darul Salam, a faction affiliated with the banned Ansaru terrorist organisation, officially known as Jamā’atu Ansāril Muslimīna fī Bilādis Sūdān.
They further confessed to concealing intelligence about the planned abduction, acknowledging that the principal suspects—Muhammad Sani, Jibril Mohammed and Ibrahim Khabab—were their associates. The defendants admitted they deliberately failed to alert security authorities despite having prior knowledge of the planned attack.
The DSS argued that the deaths of two teachers and the scale of the kidnapping demanded stiffer punishment, saying it would pursue an appeal to secure what it considers a more appropriate sentence.
