Oriire assault was deliberate by Ansaru with Al-Qaeda assist – FG witness

A witness for  the federal authorities  Tuesday instructed the Federal High Court in Abuja how Al-Ql-Qeada, a global terrorist organisation, supported members of the Ansaru terrorist group to stage the May 15 assaults on colleges in Oriire native authorities, Oyo state.

The witness, recognized as “BBB,” who testified earlier than Justice Salim Ibrahim mentioned the assault was to pressure the federal authorities to launch their leaders who have been arrested and are being prosecuted.

He instructed the court docket that upon the kidnap of the scholars and academics, the terrorists submitted an inventory containing 30 names of their leaders and demanded they should be launched else they might kill the victims.

BBB, a 2nd prosecution witness (PW-2) within the ongoing trial of the 5 suspected members of Jama’’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (Ansaru), confirmed figuring out the 5 defendants in the midst of his official duties.

The suspects are Mahmud Muhammad (aka Abu Bara’a, Abbas Mukhtar); Abubakar Abbas (aka Isah Adam, Mallam Mahmuda Al-Nigeri); Abdulrazak Umar (aka Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid); Yunusa Musa (aka Abu Yunusa Bin Musa) and Shamsu Adamu Sani (aka Abu Itisar).

The prosecution mentioned the defendants are from Okene native authorities space , Kogi state;  Daura LGA, Katsina state, and Suleja LGA, Niger state.

Led in proof by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF), Oyedepo Rotimi, SAN, BBB mentioned the operation effected by safety brokers, resulting in the kidnap victims’ rescue, was knowledgeable by the FG’s refusal to barter with the terrorists and play by their calls for.

The witness said additional that he notably knew the first defendant (Muhammad) in Maiduguri as one of many founding fathers of Boko Haram, who as soon as served because the group’s Head of Security and Intelligence.

He mentioned Muhammad, whose father is from Okene in Kogi, and his mom from Borno, was amongst those that left Boko Haram in 2012 and arrange the Ansaru group to propagate their ideology of building Islamic governance within the nation and finishing up assaults on international nationals.

The witness mentioned the group’s members believed that international nationals have been killing their Muslim brothers overseas, therefore their resolution to kidnap and kill foreigners.

He recalled that the group’s killing of seven foreigners in 2014 made the United States to designate Ansaru as a proscribed terrorist group and declared Muhammad a globally-wanted terrorist.

BBB mentioned Muhammad led a sequence of kidnapping and killing operations when he took over the management of Ansaru and named the 2nd defendant (Abbas) because the Head of Operations.

“He, Mahmud Mohammed, led the attack on the Emir of Potiskum. 17 military officers and three civilians were also killed in one of the operations,” he mentioned.