Court jails five men for 25 years over arms supply to suspected Boko Haram network

Prosecutors said the weapons were intended for one Malam Ahmad, whom they described as a Boko Haram member based in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced five men to 25 years’ imprisonment each for providing logistical and arms support to Boko Haram terrorists operating in Niger State, North-central Nigeria.

The convicts are Yusuf Muhammad (also known as Bature), Goni Ibrahim Bindi (also known as Goni Mutuwa), Sani Tukur (also known as Danladi), Mubarak Ibrahim, and Musa Alhaji Adamu (also known as Gado Banufe).

Judge Binta Nyako handed down the verdict on Thursday after the convicts pleaded guilty to four charges of terrorism, unlawful possession of firearms, and providing support to a terrorist organisation.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the defendants were arraigned before the judge on Thursday.

Before delivering the judgement, the judge gave the prosecution permission to tender a cache of arms and ammunition recovered from the defendants.

The prosecution, led by Rotimi Oyedepo, the Director of Public Prosecutions and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, tendered 15 AK-103 rifles complete with their magazines, and 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition.

It also submitted a forwarding letter along with the investigation report and the defendants’ statements.

The defence led by Akilahyel Shetima raised no objection, allowing Mrs Nyako to admit the items as exhibits and convict the defendants.

She held that their admissions, alongside evidence before the court, established that they knowingly participated in transporting firearms and supporting individuals linked to terrorist activities.

With the judge’s permission, the defence lawyer pleaded for mercy on behalf of the convicts.

Subsequently, the prosecution applied to forfeit a Volkswagen car, used to transport arms and ammunition, to the federal government.

The judge granted the request and sentenced them to 25 years each on count one.

She also sentenced each of the third defendant – Sani Tukur (also known as Danladi); the fourth defendant – Mubarak Ibrahim; and the fifth defendant – Musa Alhaji Adamu (also known as Gado Banufe) to seven years jail term

She sentenced only the first defendant – Yusuf Muhammad (also known as Bature) – to 25 years’ imprisonment on Count 4.

The judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently, beginning from the date of their arrest. This means all five convicts will serve 25 years, the longest prison sentence each received.

She ordered that the convicts should serve their terms of improvement in a place designated by the Minister of Interior.

Mrs Nyako also ordered that the exhibits recovered from them be forfeited to the federal government.

The prosecution stated in the charges that the convicts committed the offences between 23 and 24 April, when they conspired “to render assistance to a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK-103 rifles and about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad.”

The prosecution said Mr Ahmad is a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.

Links to Niger abduction

According to the prosecution, the case traces back to the 21 November 2025 attack on St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, where armed men on motorcycles stormed the school, firing shots and forcing students and teachers into nearby forests.

About 50 students escaped during the attack, but captors took more than 250 others into the Kainji Lake Reserve Forest. They held the students for days before rescuers freed them and reunited them with their families on 24 December 2025.

Following the rescue, the State Security Service (SSS) opened investigations into the attackers and what officials described as the logistics network that supported them. That investigation eventually led to the arrest of the five defendants.

Cross-border arms movement through Niger Republic

Mr Oyedepo filed the four charges against the five defendants and led the prosecution alongside M. A. Oladunjoye on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

Mr Shetima represented the defendants.

According to the indictment, the accused persons conspired between 23 and 24 April 2026 to transport 15 AK-103 rifles and about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa Region of the Republic of Niger into Nigeria.

The Diffa Region, which borders north-eastern Nigeria, has long been identified by security analysts as part of the wider Lake Chad Basin insurgency corridor where Boko Haram and its splinter groups have operated across porous borders between Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Prosecutors alleged that the weapons were intended for one Malam Ahmad, described as a Boko Haram member based in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. They further alleged that the defendants facilitated the movement of the weapons and ammunition on his behalf, thereby providing material support for terrorism.

The offences, according to the Federal Government, contravene Sections 13(1) and 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

One of the counts specifically accused Messrs Bindi, Tukur and Adamu of unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.

The indictment stated that they were arrested on 24 April, at the Kwangila area along the Kano–Kaduna Expressway in Zaria, Kaduna State, while transporting the weapons.

Prosecutors said the 15 AK-103 rifles and 1,434 rounds of ammunition were concealed inside sacks of dried fish and loaded into a blue Volkswagen Golf 3 with Republic of Niger registration number BT 9990 DA.

Security reports have repeatedly shown that arms traffickers across the Sahel often conceal weapons in commercial goods to evade detection along informal border routes.

The federal government also accused Mr Muhammad of withholding information that could have assisted security agencies in locating and prosecuting Malam Ahmad, who was said to be hiding in the Gandu Forest in Borgu LGA. Prosecutors said his failure to report the information contravened Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

In the proof of evidence, the prosecution listed confessional statements, attestation forms, investigators’ reports, and other documents it relied on, and indicated that witnesses would testify in support of the charges.

A case summary stated that the defendants were arrested following intelligence on a plan to move weapons from Niger Republic into a suspected terrorist enclave in Borgu LGA.

Investigators said the second and third defendants received the consignment in Diffa before it was intercepted en route to Nigeria, while the first and fourth defendants allegedly travelled from Borgu to Zaria to receive and deliver the weapons to the suspected operative in a forest hideout.

The five defendants initially pleaded not guilty, but later changed their pleas during proceedings.

Following their guilty pleas, Mrs Nyako convicted all five and sentenced them to 25 years’ imprisonment each.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the Volkswagen Golf used in the operation to the Federal Government.

The convictions followed investigations by the SSS into the 21 November 2025 attack on St. Mary’s Catholic School, where armed men abducted students and teachers. While about 50 students escaped, more than 250 were taken into the Kainji Lake Reserve Forest before being rescued on December 24, 2025.

Subsequent investigations uncovered what authorities described as a wider logistics and arms supply network supporting the attackers, leading to the prosecution of the defendants.