Captured Ansaru leader, Mahmud Usman, sentenced to 15 years in prison over illegal mining

One of the two Ansaru leaders, Mahmud Usman, been convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Usman was said to have pleaded guilty to charges of illegal mining of Californium stone without lawful authority, which proceeds were used for the purchase of arms and ammunition.

Consequently, he pleaded guilty, but the court instead of the life imprison sought by the federal government as the maximum sentence, he was given 15 years in jail.

He was remanded in the custody of the Department of State Service in view of the other 31 pending charges against him.

However, counsel to Usman, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy as the convict is a first-time offender.

The remand order by Justice Nwite.is in line with section 438 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.

Justice Nwite adjourned the court sitting till 21st October for trial in the rest of the case against him.

Earlier arraigned were Mahmud Usman from Okene local government area of Kogi State and Abubakar Abba from Daura local government area of Kastina State, facing a 32-count charge of alleged kidnapping for ransom, commissioning acts of terrorism, illegal Mining, fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IED) and Terrorsim financing.

Arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite the federal high court Abuja, they were accused of attacking Wawa cantonment of the Nigerian army in Kainji, New Bussa , Borgue local government Area in 2022, which resulted in mass casualties.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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