Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has given one suspected commander of Ansaru, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group, being prosecuted for alleged terrorism by the Department of State Service (DSS), Abubakar Abba, until July 20 to decide on whether or not to plead guilty to the terrorism-related charges against him.
Abubakar Abba is standing trial alongside Mahmud Usman and Isah Adam/Mahmud Al-Nigeri on various terrorism-related charges.
The matter, which was fixed for continuation of hearing on Thursday, took a turn when Abba informed the court of his intention to withdraw his earlier plea of “not guilty”.
However, after conferring with his counsel, Husseina Tukur, Abba told the court that he was still undecided on whether to change his plea or retain the earlier one.
The prosecuting counsel, David Kaswe, opposed any further adjournment, arguing that the defendant had made a similar request at the last sitting.
He urged the court to proceed with the trial should the defendant fail to make up his mind.
In a short ruling, Justice Nwite held that it was the first time the defendant’s intention to change his plea was formally brought before the court.
As the issue was for the first time being officially raised on record, the defendant should be allowed to make up his mind.
Justice Nwite subsequently adjourned the matter until July 20 for the defendant to decide on whether or not to change his plea or for continuation of the hearing.
The defendants were arrested in separate operations between May and July 2025 by the DSS.
They were slammed with a 32-count terrorism charge, including terrorism and terrorism financing, kidnapping for ransom, illegal mining, funding terrorism, and fabricating Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), among other charges.
They are accused of coordinating sleeper cells, attacks, and ties to groups in the Sahel/Maghreb.
On arraignment, Usman had pleaded guilty to one count of illegal mining for funding terrorism/arms and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.
He pleaded not guilty to the remaining 31 counts, while Abba pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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