•The convicts
A High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, following their conviction on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on June 13, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
The case, marked SS/45c/2026, was presided over by Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court No. 23, Sokoto.
Delivering judgment, Justice Bello found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, reports Channels TV.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the federal government.
“The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria,” Justice Bello said.
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges pressed against them.
The charges bordered on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The DSS arrested them at different locations.
