A Department of State Services operative has told a Federal High Court in Abuja that international terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda supported members of the proscribed Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan in carrying out the May 15 attacks in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The witness, identified as BBB, testified on Monday that the kidnapping of students and teachers was part of a strategy to pressure the Federal Government into releasing detained leaders of the terrorist group.
He said the abductors presented the government with a list of 30 members, including their commanders, whose release they demanded in exchange for the hostages.
According to the witness, the group threatened to kill the captives if the government failed to meet its demands.
BBB gave the testimony as the second prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of five men accused of participating in the Oriire attacks.
The defendants are Mahmud Muhammad, also known as Abu Bara’a; Abubakar Abbas, alias Isah Adam; Abdulrazak Umar, also known as Abu Khalifa; Yunusa Musa, alias Abu Yunusa Bin Musa; and Shamsu Adamu Sani, also known as Abu Itisar.
Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Oyedepo Rotimi (SAN), the witness said the first defendant was among the founding members of Boko Haram before leaving the group in 2012 to establish ANSARU.
He alleged that Muhammad later became ANSARU’s leader and appointed the second defendant, Abbas, as its head of operations.
BBB told the court that the group’s members planned high-profile attacks and abductions to secure the release of their arrested commanders.
He cited the November 4, 2025, attack on the convoy of a House of Representatives member representing Agwara/Borgu, Jafaru Mohammed Ali, as one of the operations allegedly linked to that objective.
The witness said four military personnel were killed and four DSS operatives injured during the attack.
He added that the group had also planned an assault on the Wawa Military Base in New Bussa, Niger State, believing that some of its detained members were being held there.
According to BBB, the failure of that operation prompted the group to move some of its activities to the South-West, where it believed media coverage could help amplify its demands.
On the Oriire incident, the witness said the abducted victims were taken to a forest near the Old Oyo National Park, where the kidnappers presented their demands to the government.
He told the court that security agencies later launched an operation to rescue the captives after the abductors killed two victims and threatened to murder the remaining hostages.
“The attacks were carried out by members of the ANSARU group,” the witness said, adding that the abductors had threatened to kill the victims if their demands were rejected.
BBB further alleged that security operatives arrested the wife of the second defendant and relatives of other suspected commanders as part of measures intended to deter the kidnappers from killing more hostages.
He said the strategy contributed to halting further killings before the rescue operation was conducted.
The witness maintained that the Oriire attacks were carried out to advance the group’s stated objective of forcing the government to free its detained leaders.
He added that the government refused to negotiate with the kidnappers, although security agencies eventually secured the release of the remaining victims.
The witness said the operation came at a cost, with security personnel, including a senior police officer and an Army officer, among those who lost their lives.
The court heard that the five defendants allegedly maintained contact with commanders involved in holding the Oriire victims.
Further hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday at 9am before Justice Salim Ibrahim.
