{"id":45787,"date":"2026-09-17T19:15:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45787"},"modified":"2026-09-17T19:15:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:15:50","slug":"nigeria-begins-trial-of-five-suspected-ansaru-members-over-school-kidnapping","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nigeria-begins-trial-of-five-suspected-ansaru-members-over-school-kidnapping\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria begins trial of five suspected Ansaru members over school kidnapping"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Nigeria&#8217;s state security service this Thursday opened the trial of five suspected members of \u200bIslamist group Ansaru over the abduction of pupils and \u200cteachers from schools in southwestern Oyo state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The defendants Mahmud Muhammad, Abubakar Abbas, Abdulrazak Umar, Yunusa Musa and Shamsu Sani pleaded \u200bnot guilty to seven terrorism-related counts before Federal \u200bHigh Court Judge Salim Ibrahim in Abuja.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">They face \u2060sentences ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment if \u200bconvicted. If prosecutors prove that deaths resulted from the \u200bkidnapping, they could face the death penalty, under Nigeria&#8217;s 2022 anti-terrorism law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The first prosecution witness, identified only as &#8220;AAA&#8221;, told the court \u200bthat gunmen entered the schools on May 15, \u200bfiring shots before taking seven teachers and 39 pupils into a \u200cforest, \u2060where they were held for 56 days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Prosecutor Rotimi Oyedepo sought protection for witnesses, citing the case&#8217;s sensitivity. Defence lawyer Bala Dakum did not object but requested permission \u200bto see witnesses \u200bduring cross-examination. \u2060The judge granted both requests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Mass kidnappings for ransom have spread across Nigeria, though \u200blarge school raids have been less common in \u200bthe southwest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">In \u2060July, the presidency said security forces had rescued 39 pupils and six teachers and arrested eight suspected kidnappers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">In May,\u00a0\u2060one\u00a0\u200bteacher was killed in captivity and\u00a0\u200bsecurity personnel were wounded by explosives during an attempted rescue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20633,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-45787","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Mass kidnappings for ransom have spread across Nigeria, though \u200blarge school raids have been less common in \u200bthe southwest.","published_date":"","news_description":"Mass kidnappings for ransom have spread across Nigeria, though \u200blarge school raids have been less common in \u200bthe southwest.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45788,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45787\/revisions\/45788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}