A Department of State Services (DSS) investigator has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that publisher Tukur Mamu betrayed the federal committee set up to negotiate the release of victims of the 2022 Abuja-Kaduna train attack.<\/p>\n
The operative, who testified anonymously as the sixth prosecution witness (PW-6) in Mamu\u2019s ongoing terrorism trial, gave his evidence before Justice Mohammed Umar while being led by DSS counsel, David Kaswe. For security reasons, the witness testified behind a screen but identified Mamu in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a public servant. I have been with the DSS for 15 years,\u201d the witness said. \u201cCurrently, I work in the investigation department and I have been working there for about 10 years as an investigator.\u201d<\/p>\n
He recounted how on March 28, 2022, terrorists attacked a Kaduna-bound train, killing several passengers, injuring others, and abducting over 60 people.<\/p>\n
According to him, a government-backed committee supervised by then Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (rtd), was tasked with negotiating the hostages\u2019 release. During talks, the terrorists demanded the release of their detained family members in exchange for the captives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe terrorists consulted with some of the hostages and recommended names of persons who they felt could negotiate on their behalf,\u201d the witness said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll those contacted declined, except the defendant, who offered himself to negotiate on behalf of the terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Mamu became involved, he reportedly advised the terrorists to appoint him as sole negotiator, sidelining the official committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cAttempts by the committee to reach the terrorists became a challenge because they no longer wanted to communicate except through the defendant,\u201d the witness added.<\/p>\n
He told the court that Mamu later undermined a planned prisoner swap, promising the release of about 30 hostages in exchange for eight detained relatives of the terrorists. However, only 11 hostages were freed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe committee felt betrayed and believed the defendant undermined its efforts for his own personal gains,\u201d the operative testified.
\n\u201cAn interim report highlighting his role was sent to the government and to us at the DSS.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further alleged that Mamu encouraged the terrorists to negotiate directly with families of the remaining hostages, claiming the government was \u201cnot serious\u201d about securing their release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant reached out to the families and collected various sums as ransom, which he packaged and delivered to the terrorists,\u201d the witness said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also included some packages \u2014 rings and a folded note \u2014 whose contents were unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DSS investigator added that Mamu had publicly taken credit for the hostages\u2019 release in an August 2022 Desert Herald publication.<\/p>\n
Justice Umar admitted several items as evidence, including the committee\u2019s interim report, photocopies of the publication, photos of rings and the note, and a certificate of compliance. The matter was adjourned to November 25 and 26 for continuation of the PW-6 testimony, during which audio recordings of Mamu\u2019s alleged interactions with terrorists are expected to be presented.<\/p>\n
Earlier, a DSS exhibit keeper (PW-5) testified, confirming the recovery of cash, weapons, and vehicles linked to Mamu.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were exhibits brought to us on September 9, 2022, and later following further investigations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job mainly is to collect, store, and record exhibits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the recovered items were $300,000, \u20a625,690,500, and multiple foreign currencies, including 1,840 Egyptian pounds, 1,700 Indian rupees, 115 UAE dirhams, and 2 Qatari riyals.<\/p>\n
Other exhibits included a Pump Action Delta Magnum shotgun, 47 rounds of cartridges, mobile devices (Oppo, Samsung phones, and a Samsung tablet), and seven cars \u2014 including a Toyota Camry, Honda CR-V, Mercedes Benz E350, Lexus 250, Hyundai Equus, and two Peugeot models.<\/p>\n
The vehicles, the witness said, \u201chad not been serviceable for a long time\u201d and remain in DSS custody. Justice Umar admitted all the exhibits after Mamu\u2019s counsel, Johnson Usman (SAN), chose not to object immediately, reserving the right to do so during final addresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Department of State Services (DSS) investigator has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that publisher Tukur Mamu betrayed the federal committee set up to negotiate the release of victims of the 2022 Abuja-Kaduna train attack. The operative, who testified anonymously as the sixth prosecution witness (PW-6) in Mamu\u2019s ongoing terrorism trial, gave his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":91389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5807,7],"tags":[5323,7378,2003],"class_list":["post-95595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-crime-and-violence","category-news","tag-abuja-kaduna","tag-betrayal","tag-mamu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}