Metro
DSS appeals life sentences of Ansaru commanders
The Department of State Services (DSS) is set to appeal the life imprisonment handed to two senior Ansaru commanders, insisting that the punishment is inadequate for the crimes linked to them.
A senior DSS official said the security agency would seek a tougher penalty, arguing that the sentence did not reflect the gravity of the offences allegedly committed by the terrorists.
The official said the DSS was concerned that the convicts changed their plea from uncertainty to guilty shortly after the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oriire, Oyo State, by suspected Ansaru members.
“For the nearly 60 days the kidnappers held on to the pupils and teachers of Oriire, the Ansaru commanders in our custody changed,” the official said.
The DSS alleged that the abductors demanded the release of the two commanders as a condition for freeing the victims.
The agency also linked the beheading of two Oriire teachers to pressure for the release of the Ansaru leaders, saying justice would not be served if the convicts escaped with only life sentences.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had sentenced Mahmud Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a, and Abubakar Abba, also known as Malam Mamuda, to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to 32 terrorism-related charges.
