Nigeria: State Security Services Wants Death Sentence for Ansaru Commanders

What the report says

AllAfrica, republishing Premium Times, reports that Nigeria’s State Security Service plans to appeal the life sentences handed to two senior Ansaru figures, Mahmud Usman and Abubakar Abba, and seek capital punishment instead. The report says the two men, described by officials as senior commanders of the al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram splinter faction, pleaded guilty in a 32-count terrorism case and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to the Premium Times account, the men were arrested in a multi-agency intelligence operation between May and July 2025, with National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu announcing the arrests in August 2025. Officials identified Usman as an Ansaru “Emir” accused of coordinating sleeper cells, kidnappings and terrorism financing, while Abba was described as his deputy and linked to a faction operating around Kainji National Park.

The SSS argues that life terms are insufficient given the scale of harm attributed to the commanders. The report links the agency’s position to the abduction of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, which President Bola Tinubu attributed to Ansaru. A senior SSS official cited by the News Agency of Nigeria said the kidnappers demanded the release of the two commanders and that two teachers were killed during the ordeal.

Premium Times frames the planned appeal as part of Nigeria’s wider death penalty debate. Nigerian law still allows capital punishment for some crimes, including certain terrorism offences, but executions are now uncommon and many death-row inmates wait for years. The case could therefore test both the government’s counterterrorism posture and the country’s cautious practice on executions.