Three Sentenced to Life in Prison Over Oyo State School Kidnappings
High Court sentences three Boko Haram affiliates to life imprisonment following the rescue of 44 students and teachers in southwestern Nigeria.
- Abuja High Court hands down life sentences to three men for concealing information and maintaining terror group affiliations.
A High Court in Abuja has sentenced three men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to offenses connected to the mass abduction of 44 pupils and teachers in Nigeria’s southwestern Oyo state.
The defendants—identified as Abdulrazak Umar (also known as Abu Khalifa or Abu Khalid), Yunusa Musa, and Shamsu Adamu Sani—admitted to concealing vital information regarding the orchestrators of the May 2026 attacks and confessed to membership in an affiliate group of the Islamist militant organization Boko Haram.
While the men denied direct charges of conspiracy to kidnap, Umar admitted to utilizing WhatsApp groups to train and instruct jihadist operatives, as well as engaging in illegal mining operations.
The trial follows the successful military rescue earlier this month of 44 hostages who were held captive for 56 days across three schools in Oyo’s Oriire district.
“We were in the forest in the open, most of the time, under the sun and under the rain with the children,” recalled Rachael Folawe Alamu, headteacher at Community Grammar School in Oriire, who survived the ordeal. She revealed that two male educators were murdered by the captors during their detention in an attempt to coerce government concessions.
The Oriire abductions sparked national outrage and widespread protests from parents, rights groups, and labor unions. The incident also marked a troubling geographical expansion of jihadist-linked activity, which historically remained concentrated in Nigeria’s northeastern region. Security authorities confirmed that several additional suspects, including a key mastermind behind the syndicate, remain in custody awaiting trial.
