Five men accused of kidnapping pupils and teachers in Oriire, Oyo State, and killing two victims will be re-arraigned on Thursday.
The Department of State Services filed a six-count amended charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2026 before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The accused persons identified as members of the Jama’‘atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (ANSARU) terrorist group 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) respectively.
The suspects’ arraignment was billed earlier billed for today, but the insistence of the accused persons to be defended by lawyers of their own choice forced it to me moved to Thursday
At Wednesday’s aborted proceedings, Mr Akilaluyel Shettima, a Deputy Director with the Legal Aid Council had announced appearance for the five of them but the first accused person, Mahmud Muhammad objected.
Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Muhammad told Justice Salim Ibrahim that they had been represented by one Bala Dakum as their lawyer before and would want him to continue to defend them.
The DSS lawyer and Director of the Public Prosecution of the Federation, DPPF, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo conceded that the issue of choice of lawyer is a constitutional matter that must be respected and allowed for the accused persons.
Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, told the court that the DSS is a law abiding institution not interested in persecution of the accused persons but only interested in justice.
Justice Ibrahim resolved to shift the fresh arraignment to September 17,2026.
The Judge ordered the accused persons to contact their lawyer to be in court on September 17,2026 for the re-arraignment to hold.
He also asked the DSS to allow the accused persons access their lawyer to prepare for their defence as required by law and constitution.
