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Kaduna Terrorists Attack: DSS Witness Reveals How Tukur Mamu Pocketed N50m from Ransom

Published

2 months ago

November 26, 2025

Eric

A State Security Service investigator, on Tuesday, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that Tukur Mamu was offered a N50 million share by Shugaba, leader of the terrorist group, who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna bound train in 2022.

The DSS operative, who testified as 6th prosecution witness (PW-6) in the ongoing terrorism trial of Mamu, the alleged terrorists’ negotiator, told Justice Mohammed Umar while being led in evidence by the DSS lawyer, David Kaswe.

The witness, who gave his testimony behind a witness screen for security reason, said that the group also asked Mamu to teach them how to open website for their terrorist activities.

He stated this while interpreting four voice notes played in the courtroom containing the defendant’s telephone interactions with the terrorists who held the abducted train passengers hostage.

The audio recordings were extracted from Mamu’s mobile telephones during interrogation after he was arrested in Egypt and brought back to Nigeria.

“The first voice note that played was for defendant (Mamu) fixing a date for delivery of ransom.

“The second voice note that played for five minutes was the voice of Shugaba, the leader of the terrorist group.

“In the voice note, he was appreciating the defendant’s effort and ask him to remove N50 million for his personal use from a particular tranche of ransom sent to them.

“The last voice note that played, Baba Adamu, who is their spokesperson, was heard requesting the defendant to help them procure speakers and public address system for their preaching activities and the defendant responded that he was going to look into their request.

“They also requested that the defendant teach them how to open website for their activities,” the witness said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mamu was alleged to have convinced the terrorists to discuss ransom payments with individual families of the hostages of the train attack instead of the Chief of Defense Staff Committee set up by the Federal Government for his personal financial gain.

The defendant was said to have been nominated by the terrorists that attacked the train sometime in March 2022 where scores of passengers were held hostage.

Mamu was alleged to have collected ransoms on behalf of terror group from families of hostages, confirmed the amount and facilitated the delivery of same to them.

The PW-6, while being led in evidence on Tuesday by the prosecuting lawyer, Kaswe, told the court that after Mamu was brought back from Egypt, he submitted his Samsung tablet and two phones to DSS’ officials.

The witness said he was one of those who investigated the case.

He told the court that when the defendant was intercepted in Egypt, he put a call to his in-law, identified as Mubarak Tinja and directed him to move out all his valuables, comprising cash, cars and other items of values, from his house to a safe location, to avoid detection by security agents.

“The defendant was subsequently arrested in Egypt and returned back to Nigeria, where a team of investigators were on ground to receive him.

“A duly endorsed search warrant was duly executed in his property and office in Kaduna, during which cash, in both local and foreign currencies; vehicles and other valuables were recovered.

“In compliance with his directive to his in law, Mubarak Tinja, and the other dependants in the house, some cars and cash were moved out of the house to various locations,” he said.

He said investigators later traced and located some of the items, including about 300,000 US dollars, about seven cars, including Toyota Camry (Muscle); Peugeot 5008, Lexus, Mercedes E350 and a Hyundai car.

Vehicle documents relating to the cars were later tendered by the prosecution through the witness, which the court admitted in evidence.

The witness added that when the defendant was brought back to the country, he “handed his Samsung tablet and two of his phones to our exhibit keeper, who sent them to our forensic department for forensic analysis.

“The outcome of the forensic analysis, included the voice notes of the conversation between the defendant and the terrorists, were part of the content that were presented to the interrogation team and the items recovered from his home.

“He (the defendant) was subsequently interviewed, during which the content of his phones and other items were presented to him.

“During the interview, the defendant admitted giving instruction to Mubarak to move his variables from his house.

“He also admitted communicating with the terrorists, using his voice notes, which were extracted from his two phones and Samsung tablet.”

He added that the defendant also admitted owning a pump action gun, which was recovered from his house, which he claimed was duly licensed.

The witness, however, told the court that investigators later discovered that the licence expired in December 2021, nine months before he was arrested.

The DSS operative said about 98 per cent of the conversation on the voice notes are in Housa Language, some of which were translated to English Language by him, because they were too many.

Kaswe then applied to tender the recorded voice notes stored in compact disk plates and flash drive, which the court admitted, after Mamu’s counsel, Johnson Usman, reserved his objection until the final address.

The recorded conversations were played in the courtroom.

The witness added that in the course of investigation, two victims volunteered written statements in which they recounted their experiences.

He said one of the statements was written in English and the other in Hausa Language.

He, however, said that the victims; a male and female, were no longer available, because they expressed their unwillingness to attend court to testify because of fear and trauma.

The court admitted the statements of the victims in evidence and marked them as exhibits after it was not opposed by Usman.

The court also admitted in evidence eight statements made to investigators by Mamu and video recordings of the statements writing sessions.

Kaswe then informed the court that he would be bringing a formal application for the court to visit where the items recovered from Mamu’s house and office are kept.

Justice Umar adjourned the matter until Nov. 26 at 11am for continuation of trial.

NAN

Featured

Strategy and Sovereignty: Inside Adenuga’s Oil Deal of the Decade

Published

10 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Eric

By Michael Abimboye

In global energy circles, the most consequential deals are often not the loudest. They unfold quietly, reshape portfolios, recalibrate value, and only later reveal their full significance.

The recent strategic transaction between Conoil Producing Limited and TotalEnergies belongs firmly in that category. A deal whose implications stretch beyond balance sheets into Nigeria’s long-troubled oil production narrative.

For Mike Adenuga, named The Boss of the Year 2025 by The Boss Newspapers, the agreement is more than a corporate milestone. It is the culmination of a long-term upstream strategy that is now translating into hard value barrels, cash flow, and renewed confidence in indigenous capacity.

At the heart of the transaction is a portfolio rebalancing agreement that sees TotalEnergies deepen its interest in an offshore asset while Conoil consolidates full ownership of a producing block critical to its medium-term growth trajectory. The parties have not publicly disclosed the monetary value, industry analysts place similar offshore and shallow-water asset transfers in the high hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on reserve certification and development timelines. What is indisputable, however, is the deal’s structural clarity: each partner exits with assets aligned to its strategic strengths.

For Conoil, the transaction represents something more profound than asset shuffling. It is the validation of an indigenous oil company’s ability to operate, produce, and partner at scale. That validation was already underway in 2024, when Conoil achieved a landmark breakthrough: the successful production and export of Obodo crude, a new Nigerian crude blend from its onshore acreage.

In a country where new crude streams have become rare, Obodo’s emergence signalled operational maturity. More importantly, it shifted Conoil from being perceived primarily as a downstream and marginal upstream player into a full-spectrum producer with export-grade assets.

The commercial impact was immediate. Obodo crude enhanced Conoil’s revenue profile, strengthened cash flows, and materially improved the company’s asset valuation.

For Mike Adenuga, Obodo represented something else entirely: oil income with scale and durability. Producing crude shifts wealth from theoretical to realised. It is the difference between potential and proof.

That momentum was reinforced by Conoil’s acquisition of a new drilling rig, a move that underscored its intent to control not just resources, but execution. In an industry where rig availability often dictates production timelines, owning modern drilling capacity gives Conoil a strategic advantage lowering costs, reducing dependency, and accelerating development cycles. It also enhances the company’s bargaining power in partnerships such as the one with TotalEnergies.

Taken together, the Obodo crude success, the rig acquisition, and the TotalEnergies transaction, these moves materially expand Conoil’s enterprise value. While private company valuations remain opaque, upstream assets with proven production, infrastructure control, and international partnerships typically command significant multiple expansion. For Adenuga, all of these represents a stabilising and appreciating pillar of wealth.

As The Boss Newspapers honours Mike Adenuga as Boss of the Year 2025, the recognition lands at a moment when his oil ambitions are no longer peripheral to his legacy. They are central. In Obodo crude, in steel rigs, and in carefully negotiated partnerships, Adenuga is shaping a version of Nigerian capitalism that privileges patience, scale, and execution over spectacle.

In the end, the most powerful statement of wealth is not net worth rankings or headlines. It is the ability to convert strategy into assets, assets into production, and production into national relevance. On that score, the Conoil–TotalEnergies deal may well stand as one of the most consequential chapters in Mike Adenuga’s business story and in Nigeria’s evolving oil future.

Featured

Peter Obi, Only Life in ADC, Says Fayose

Published

2 days ago

January 10, 2026

Eric

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, says the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, is the only life in the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

Fayose made this statement on Friday while fielding questions in an interview on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television.

He also said that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is technically no more, adding that it is dead.

The former governor equally said that Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, should not be dragged into the woes of the PDP.

He said: “Obi is the only life in ADC; all other people in ADC are semi-existent. If Obi had remained in Labour Party or has gone to Accord Party, he is the only life there. All the other people there, they are not existing. They are old-forces.

“Openly, I supported Tinubu in 2023. I didn’t hide it. Till now I’m still there. I don’t jump. I have said it to you I’m not a member of APC and I will never be.”

DailyPost

Featured

More Troubles for Ahmed Farouk: Dangote Drags Ex-NMDPRA Boss to EFCC over Corruption Claims

Published

3 days ago

January 9, 2026

Eric

The Chairman of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, through his legal representative, has filed a formal corruption petition against the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

This was disclosed in a statement made available to our correspondent by the Dangote Group media team on Friday.

Recall that Dangote had earlier petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate Ahmed for allegedly spending $5 million on his children’s secondary education in Switzerland. He withdrew the petition a few days ago, even as the ICPC vowed to continue with its investigation.

The statement on Friday said Dangote’s petition to the EFCC followed “The withdrawal of the same petition from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, a strategic decision aimed at accelerating the prosecution process.”

In the petition, signed by Lead Counsel Dr O.J. Onoja, Dangote urged the EFCC to investigate allegations of abuse of office and corrupt enrichment against Ahmed, and to prosecute him if found culpable.

The petition further stated that Dangote would provide evidence to substantiate claims of financial misconduct and impunity.

“We make bold to state that the commission is strategically positioned, along with sister agencies, to prosecute financial crimes and corruption-related offences, and upon establishing a prima facie case, the courts do not hesitate to punish offenders. See Lawan v. F.R.N (2024) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1953) 501 and Shema v. F.R.N. (2018) 9 NWLR (Pt.1624) 337,” the petition read.

Onoja further urged the commission, under the leadership of Mr Olanipekun Olukoyede, “To investigate the complaint of abuse of office and corruption against Engr. Farouk Ahmed and to accordingly prosecute him if found wanting.”