The Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday heard detailed testimony on how alleged terrorists’ negotiator, Tukur Mamu, was reportedly offered N50 million by the leader of a terrorist group.
A Department of State Services official, testifying as the sixth prosecution witness in Mamu’s trial for terrorism-related offences, stated that the second voice played during the court session was that of Shugaba, identified as the leader of a terrorist group, who “appreciating the defendant’s efforts and asked him to remove N50 million for his use from a ransom amount he was to deliver to them (the terrorists).”
The witness said Shugaba’s voice was among several audio conversations extracted from Mamu’s mobile device during interrogation following his arrest in Egypt.
Mamu was arrested on September 7, 2022, by Egyptian authorities at Cairo International Airport on suspicion of financing Boko Haram activities. He was alleged to have convinced terrorists to negotiate ransom directly with families of victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack instead of the Chief of Defence Staff Committee set up by the Federal Government, allegedly for his personal financial benefit. He was said to have been nominated by the terrorists involved in the March 2022 train attack, during which passengers were abducted, and was alleged to have collected ransoms on behalf of the group, confirmed amounts, and facilitated delivery.
Led in evidence by prosecuting counsel David Kaswe, the DSS witness told the court that after Mamu was returned from Egypt, he submitted his Samsung tablet and two phones to investigators. The witness, who participated in the investigation, said that when Mamu was intercepted, he called his in-law, identified as Mubarak Tinja, instructing him to move valuables including cash and cars from his residence to a safe location to avoid their discovery by security agents. He added that a search warrant was executed at Mamu’s house and office in Kaduna, where cash in local and foreign currencies, vehicles, and other valuables were recovered. In compliance with Mamu’s directive, some dependants in the house had already moved out some of the cash and vehicles to different locations.
Investigators later traced items including about 300,000 US dollars and seven vehicles comprising a Toyota Camry (Muscle), Peugeot 5008, Lexus, Mercedes E350, and Hyundai. Car documents tendered through the witness were admitted in evidence. The witness explained that Mamu’s Samsung tablet and two phones were sent to the forensic department, which extracted voice notes between him and terrorists. These recordings formed part of the materials presented to the interrogation team. He said the defendant admitted during interviews that he instructed Mubarak to move his valuables and acknowledged communicating with terrorists through voice notes extracted from his devices.
The witness testified that Mamu also admitted ownership of a pump action gun recovered from his home, claiming it was licensed, but investigators later discovered that the licence had expired in December 2021, nine months before his arrest. He added that one of the voice notes revealed that terrorists had asked Mamu to teach them how to develop a website, and Mamu promised to get back to them. The DSS official said that about 98 percent of the conversations were in Hausa, with many translated into English due to their volume, and he carried out the transcription.
Kaswe then asked the court to admit recorded voice notes stored on compact discs and a flash drive, which the court accepted. About six recordings were played in court. When asked to identify the voices, the witness said: “The last two voices are those of Baba Adamu, who is the spokesperson of the terrorists group. The first voice note was the defendant, where he was fixing a date for the delivery of ransom. The second was …that played for 5 minutes is that of Shugaba, who is the leader of terrorist group, who was appreciating the defendant efforts and asked him to take/ remove N50m for his personal use from a particular ransome amount to be sent to them. The last note was Baba Adamu, asking the defendant to help them procure public address system, like speakers, for their preaching activities and the defendants assured that he would look into their requests. Adamu also requested that the defendant teach them how to create a website for their activities.”
The witness further told the court that two victims had volunteered written statements recounting their experiences, but they were no longer willing to appear due to fear and trauma. Their statements—one written in English by a female victim and the other written in Hausa by a male victim and translated into English—were admitted in evidence. The court also admitted eight statements made by the defendant to investigators and video recordings of the statement-writing sessions.
Kaswe informed the court that he intends to file a formal application requesting the court to visit the location where items recovered from Mamu’s residence and office are stored. Further hearing in the case is scheduled to continue at 11am on Wednesday.
