Federal Government has filed a 10-count charge against three men in connection with the abduction of pupils and teachers from schools in the Oriire Local Government Area (LGA) of Oyo State.
The defendants, Abdulrazak Umar, Yunusa Musa and Shamsu Adamu Sani, face allegations ranging from terrorism and kidnapping to concealment, incitement and illegal mining.
The charges were filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.
Umar is also known as Abu Khalifa or Abu Khalid, Musa as Yunusa bin Musa, and Sani as Abu Itisar.
All three hail from the Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State.
According to the charge sheet, the first count accuses the trio of conspiring with Muhammad Sani, Jibril Mohammed and Ibrahim Khabab, sometime between January and May, to kidnap the schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State.
The prosecution said the offence contravenes Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Counts two and three accuse the men of actively aiding the same three individuals in carrying out the kidnapping, contrary to Section 26(2) of the Act.
Counts four and five relate to concealment as the defendants are accused of knowing the identities of Muhammad Sani, Jibril Mohammed and Ibrahim Khabab as the masterminds behind the kidnapping, and of being aware of the abduction itself, yet failing on both counts to alert security operatives to enable their arrest. Both counts cite Section 16(1) of the Terrorism Act.
The sixth count accuses all three of professing membership of Darul Salam, described in the charge sheet as an affiliate of Jamaatu Asarul Muslima Fi Bilandis Sudan, otherwise known as Ansaru, a proscribed terrorist organisation in Nigeria.
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The alleged offence is said to have taken place on or about June 2, in breach of Section 25(1) of the Act.
Counts seven to nine are levelled solely against Umar, described as a resident of Sandako, Suleja.
He is accused of providing training and instruction to terrorists through a WhatsApp group titled "The Oneness of Allah is the Foundation of Peace" in July, an offence said to contravene Sections 15 and 2(2)(g) of the Terrorism Act.
Umar is further accused of using preachings on the same platform to incite members to commit acts of terrorism, contrary to Section 18 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015.
The tenth count, also against Umar alone, accuses him of engaging in illegal gold mining at streams in the Chaza area of Suleja between 2024 and 2026, without lawful authority, contrary to Section 8(b) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act.
The charges stem from the mass abduction that shook Oyo State on May 15, when gunmen stormed Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A Primary School in the Esiele and Yawota communities of Oriire.
Early official accounts put the number of victims at 46, comprising 39 pupils and seven teachers.
Two people lost their lives in connection with the attack as the assistant headmaster of L.A Primary School, Joel Adesiyan, was killed while attempting to escape during the raid, while a mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, was beheaded by his captors during the 56 days that followed.
The victims regained their freedom on July 10, after an intelligence-led military operation targeted the kidnappers' hideouts in the Old Oyo National Park.
Nigerian Army said 44 pupils and teachers were freed and eight suspected gang members arrested, while the Presidency maintained that no ransom was paid and no concessions made to the kidnappers, who had reportedly demanded N1 billion and the release of a detained commander.
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