Five men accused of involvement in the May 15 abduction of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State have pleaded not guilty to seven terrorism-related charges.
The defendants were re-arraigned on Thursday by the Department of State Services (DSS) before the Federal High Court in Abuja over the alleged kidnapping and subsequent killing of two of the victims.
They were arraigned on a seven-count amended charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2026, filed by the DSS on behalf of the Federal Government.
The accused are Mahmud Muhammad, also known as Abu Bara’a and Abbas Mukhtar; Abubakar Abbas, aka Isah Adam and Mallam Mahmuda Al-Nigeri; Abdulrazak Umar, aka Abu Khalifa and Abu Khalid; Yunusa Musa, aka Abu Yunusa Bin Musa; and Shamsu Adamu Sani, aka Abu Itisar.
The DSS accused the five men of being members of the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (ANSARU) terrorist group. However, each defendant pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to them in court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who led the DSS legal team, asked the court to order the immediate commencement of trial in line with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
Oyedepo also requested that the identities of prosecution witnesses be protected and that they be allowed to testify while wearing masks for security reasons.
Counsel to the defendants, Bala Dakum, did not object to the applications. Justice Salim Ibrahim subsequently granted the requests of the DSS.
Arrangements were being made for the full-scale trial as of the time of filing the report.
