In a dramatic turn of events at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the ongoing trial of alleged terrorists’ negotiator, Tukur Mamu, revealed startling audio recordings detailing direct communications between Mamu and leaders of a terrorist group.
Testimony from a Department of State Services (DSS) official, serving as the sixth prosecution witness, disclosed that Mamu was offered a staggering N50 million by the leader of a terrorist organisation. The witness recounted, “The second voice that played for five minutes is Shugaba’s, who is the leader of a terrorist group, 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 DSS official identified Shugaba’s voice among various audio conversations extracted from Mamu’s mobile device during his interrogation after being apprehended in Egypt on 7th September 2022, under suspicion of financing Boko Haram terrorism activities.
Mamu is alleged to have encouraged the terrorists to negotiate ransoms with families of hostages taken during the Abuja-Kaduna train attack in March 2022, rather than through the Chief of Defence Staff Committee established by the Federal Government, purportedly for his own financial gain.
The witness disclosed that Mamu had been nominated by the terrorists involved in the train attack, asserting that he collected ransoms on behalf of Boko Haram from the families, confirmed the amounts, and facilitated the delivery to the militants.
Led in evidence by prosecuting lawyer David Kaswe, the DSS official testified that, upon Mamu’s return from Egypt, he submitted his Samsung tablet and two mobile phones to DSS officials. The witness, who participated in the investigation, stated that when Mamu was intercepted in Egypt, he called his in-law, identified as Mubarak Tinja, directing him to move his valuables, including cash and cars, to a secure location to evade detection by security agents.
The sixth prosecution witness added: “The defendant was arrested in Egypt and returned back to Nigeria, where investigators received him. A search warrant was duly executed at his property and office in Kaduna, during which cash, in local and foreign currencies; cars; and other valuables were recovered.”
The witness confirmed that, in compliance with Mamu’s directive, some vehicles and cash were relocated to various locations. Investigators later traced and located items, including approximately 300,000 US dollars and seven vehicles, including a Toyota Camry (Muscle), Peugeot 5008, Lexus, Mercedes E350, and Hyundai.
Documents related to the vehicles were tendered by the prosecution through the witness and were admitted into evidence. The witness further stated that when Mamu was brought back, he “handed his Samsung tablet and two phones to our exhibit keeper, who sent them to the forensic department for analysis.”
“The outcome of the analysis, including voice notes between the defendant and terrorists, were part of the content presented to the interrogation team and items recovered from his home. He (the defendant) was interviewed, during which the content of his phones and other items were presented to him,” the witness said.
The sixth prosecution witness added that Mamu admitted giving instructions to Mubarak to move his valuables from his house and acknowledged communicating with the terrorists, using voice notes extracted from his mobile devices. He also admitted to owning a pump-action gun recovered from his residence, claiming it was duly licensed, although investigators later discovered that the licence had expired in December 2021, nine months before his arrest.
“In one of the voice notes extracted from the defendant’s phone, the terrorists requested him to teach them how to develop a website, and the defendant promised to get back to them in that regard,” the witness revealed.
The DSS official stated that approximately 98 per cent of the conversation in the voice notes was in Hausa, with some translated into English due to their volume. The witness conducted the transcription.
Kaswe then applied to submit the recorded voice notes stored on compact discs and flash drives, which the court admitted. Following this, approximately six recorded conversations were played in court.
When asked to identify the speakers in the conversations, the witness stated: “The last two voices are those of Baba Adamu, who is the spokesperson of the terrorist group. The first voice note was the defendant, where he was fixing a date for the delivery of ransom. The second… that played for five minutes is that of Shugaba, who is the leader of the terrorist group, who was appreciating the defendant’s efforts and asked him to take/remove N50 million for his personal use from a particular ransom amount to be sent to them.”
“The last note was Baba Adamu, asking the defendant to help them procure a public address system, like speakers, for their preaching activities, and the defendant 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 added that, during the investigation, two victims provided written statements recounting their experiences but later expressed their unwillingness to testify in court due to fear and trauma. The court admitted the statements, one written in English by the female victim and the other in Hausa by the male victim, which was translated into English.
The court also admitted eight statements made to investigators by the defendant and video recordings of the statement-writing sessions.
Kaswe subsequently informed the court of his intention to file a formal application for the court to visit the location where the items recovered from Mamu’s house and office are stored. Further hearings in the case are scheduled to resume at 11 am on Wednesday.
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