A prosecution witness, simply identified as “ABC,” on Friday, told the Federal High Court in Abuja how the notorious bandit kingpin, Kachalla Halilu, purchased a gun truck from Niger Republic to perpetrate terrorist acts in Nigeria.
ABC, who is the 1st prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of four suspects linked to fleeing bandit leader, Bello Turji, made the revelation while being led in evidence by federal government’s lawyer, David Kaswe.
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Mr Turji is a notorious bandit leader operating in North-western Nigeria, particularly Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger states.
In December 2024, the Nigerian Army announced that it had arrested a woman who allegedly supplied arms and ammunition to Mr Turji.
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The announcement came about a week after the army announced the detention of some of Mr Turji’s suspected lieutenants.
PREMIUM TIMES reported, however, that the terrorist released a video on Christmas Day, saying those arrested were ‘innocent’ elderly people in his ancestral community
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on 23 December 2024, the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) arraigned four suspected lieutenants of Mr Turji being tried in Abuja on 11 counts of terrorism.
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The suspects – Musa Kamarawa; Abubakar Hashimu, a.k.a. Doctor; Samuel Chinedu and Lucky Chukwuma – pleaded not guilty to the counts and the court subsequently ordered their remand in Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja, pending the hearing and determination of their bail applications.
Testimony
Giving his testimony on Friday in Hausa language, the first prosecution witness said out of the four suspects in the dock, he only knew Musa Kamarawa, who he called his childhood friend.
“Sometimes between 2021 and 2022, Musa is my childhood friend. He called me on the phone and told me that he wanted me to accompany him to Kano for the wedding fathia (ceremony) of the daughter of DSS (SSS) Director of Sokoto Command.
“I prepared myself on Friday and I met him in his house. When I went to his house, I met him with one of his friends called Sani Lawal Jibia (8th defendant).
“Musa told me that we are going together with Sani. We used Musa’s Honda Accord 2018 model car. Sani Jibia was the one that drove us to Isa Local Government Area in Sokoto State.
“We went to the local government chairman’s house and we met him in his house.
“Musa and the local government chairman excused themselves. I didn’t know what they were discussing.
“When they finished their discussion, Musa brought the key of the Hilux car.
“He told us that we are going with the Hilux and leaving his car in the chairman’s house. We left around 4 p.m. for Katsina State.
“When we arrived in Katsina the same day, we proceeded to Kano.
“We arrived in Kano in the night and we started looking for a hotel,” he said.
The witness said he and Sani Jibia lodged in the same hotel while Musa went and rented an expensive hotel in Kano.
“We slept in the hotel and left there around 11:30 in the morning and went to the venue of the wedding fathia.
“After the wedding, we left the place around 12 noon. We proceeded to the wedding reception,” ABC said.
Meeting at the bush, military checkpoint encounter
The witness further said after the wedding, they left for Sokoto State but had a stopover in Katsina.
“When we arrived in Katsina, we decided to sleep there because we could not make it to Sokoto that very day.
“In the morning around 10 a.m., we started our journey to Sokoto.
“We followed the road to Jibia, to Zurmi, from Zurmi to Kaura Namoda Local Government Area.
“When we went to Kaura Namoda town, Musa told us that he wanted to go and bring something.
“We went to their house – I, myself, Musa and Sani Lawal. We greeted his in-law. From Kaura Namoda, we started our journey to Shinkarfi Local Government Area.
“On our way to Shinkarfi Local Government, Musa started calling unknown persons.
“He told us that he was talking with Kachalla Halilu. He said he wants to go and receive message from Kachalla Halilu,” he said
The prosecution witness said when they got to Shinkarfi Local Government Area, they stopped and prayed.
“We stopped at one Alhaji Lawali Shop. We prayed there and drank water, then we started our journey again,” he added.
He said after Shinkarfi, they got to a village called Galadi where they met a military checkpoint.
“Musa told Sani to stop at the checkpoint because Sani was the one that drove the car,” he said.
He said after they left the checkpoint, Musa called Kachalla Halilu and asked him where to stop.
He said Mr Kachalla told Mr Musa that they should pull up where they normally stopped.
“When we arrived at the place, Musa told Sani to stop since he is the one driving.
“We were there for some time; Kachalla came out from the forest with his boys.
“We were less than 100 metres away and Kachalla called Musa when he had arrived. Musa went and met him but I didn’t know what they discussed.”
According to him, after they finished their discussion, Mr Musa came back with money inside a black nylon bag.
“Kachalla and his boys were well armed with guns and masked themselves (they covered their faces) and went back to the forest.
“But Kachalla was the only person that did not cover his face.
“After that, we turned back to the military checkpoint. Musa stopped there and gave some money to the military men.
“From there, we started our journey to Sokoto,” he said.
Planning to buy vehicles from Cotonou
ABC said on their way, Musa told them that he and Sani Lawal would accompany him to Cotonou in Benin Republic to buy a Peugeot 406 car.
He said Musa told them they would go by flight.
“He told us that we would go to Lagos first before going to Cotonou.
“The two of us agreed that there is no problem since we are going by flight. After 6 p.m., we arrived in Sokoto and went to Musa’s house directly.
“After eating food in Musa’s house, I went to my house. I left Musa in his house together with Sani Lawal because Lawal used to sleep in Musa’s house,” he said.
He said Musa called him after some days and when he got there, he met him together with Sani in his parlour.
He said Musa told him he would be going to the Old Market to confirm the exchange rate naira to CFA.
“After he called, he said it was expensive.
“He then called Ilela, a border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic. He said the price there was cheaper than the Old Market price.
“He called one of his nephews, Abdulmalik, who stays in the house.
“He told Abdulmalik that he would send him to Ilela and that he would give him someone’s number so that when he gets there, he should call him.
“Musa went to his room and brought the money that he received from Kachalla,” he said.
When the prosecuting lawyer asked him the currency of the money, he said it was in naira.
“He did not tell us the amount of the money. He gave Abdulmalik the money and transport fare for him to go to Ilela.
“From there, I wanted to go home; and he gave me N20, 000 that I should go and buy food.
“I didn’t know when Abdulmalik came back from Ilela,” he said.
The witness said Mr Musa called him and told him that they would be going to Cotonou on Friday and that the naira had been converted to CFA.
The trip to Cotonou
He said Mr Musa, however, told him that they would be going by road because the flight was expensive.
“Musa called Aminu (7th defendant), his elder brother, because Aminu used to go to Cotonou all the time.
“Aminu came from Kamarawa to Sokoto. In the morning when we were going to Cotounu, we went to where we usually got cars to Kamba Local Government Area in Kebbi State.”
He said he, Messrs Musa, Aminu (7th defendant) and Sani (8th defendant) went together.
“When we arrived in Kamba, we arrived at a village called Doli Kaila. From Doli, Kaila, we entered a canoe to Lolo in Benin Republic.
“From there we chartered a car to Malabe, from Malabe, Musa Chartered a car to Cotonou directly.
“We arrived at Cotonou around 9 p.m. We went and looked for a hotel. Musa told the driver that we would hire his car back to Malabe when going back to Sokoto.
“That night, Aminu, elder brother to Musa, called one agent. In the morning, the agent came. We rode on a motorcycle to where they sell the cars.
“We went there to check the 406 ash colour car. We went to the owner of the car. He was Lebanese.
“They agreed to sell the car at 1.8 million CFA. The Lebanese gave us 200 as our shares.
“I, Sani Lawal, and Amina Muhammed shared the money,” he said.
Going for gun truck
The witness said Mr Musa then asked the agent where they could get a gun truck, also called ‘Koke or Buffalo.’
“We were taken to a place where the car was sold.
“We saw the car (gun truck). We asked for the price, and we were told the price was 25 million CFA. Musa told us that it was too expensive, so we couldn’t buy it.
“Musa asked Aminu to call one of his friends so that they do business together to ask him where we could get the car.
“That person, I didn’t know him, told Aminu that we could get the car in Libya.
“That Libya car has a serial number, so that Nigerian Customs (officers) don’t allow such a car (gun truck) to enter Nigeria when they see it,” the witness said.
Desperate search for gun truck to Niger Republic
He, however, said Mr Aminu’s friend told them that they could get new gun truck in Gaya, Niger Republic.
“All these discussions happened in Cotonou before we came back,” he said.
According to him, Mr Musa called Mr Aminu, his elder brother, to call somebody that could drive the 406 car to Gaya, and from Gaya to Nigeria.
The lawyer asked the witness to tell the court what happened in Niger Republic.
He said, “We arrived there on Sunday and it was a work=-free day. When we entered, we saw the cars (gun trucks), many in Gaya, Niger Republic.”
He said Musa called someone they did not know.
“He met us at Malabe and we went to Gaya together.
“Musa entered the front seat of the car, I, Sani Lawal and Aminu entered the back seat.
“They called the owner of the car. Musa and his elder brother and the person that took us there started discussing the price with the owner of the car.
“They left me and Sani Lawal because they didn’t want us to know the price of the car.
“After they finished discussing about the car, Musa came to the car and took the money. He counted the money. The money was not complete,” he said.
When Mr Kaswe asked if Mr Musa later bought the gun truck, the witness said: “Yes, he bought the gun truck.”
Delivering gun truck and celebration that followed
On how the gun truck was delivered to Mr Musa, the witness said, “We left Aminu, Musa’s elder brother there, because he is the one that knows the road.
“Aminu was the person that delivered the car to Nigeria,” he said.
On what Mr Musa did with the gun truck when it arrived in Nigeria, the PW-1 said: “He called me that I should come and escort him, that he wanted to go and greet his mother and he would also deliver the gun truck to Kachalla Halilu.”
He said when they got to Kachalla Halilu’s camp at Sububu Forest, they (Kachalla and his boys) started shooting guns into the air in celebration mood.
“They started shooting guns, that their car had arrived,
“I was afraid, and Musa started laughing, wondering why I was afraid, and I told him that I was not used to hearing the sound of guns like this,” he said.
When the lawyer asked him what happened next, the witness said the bandits started taking photographs with the gun truck.
“They delivered the gun truck to him (Kachalla) and stood by the car (gun truck) to start snapping pictures,” he said.
He said he took pictures with Kachalla Halilu, Musa and the gun truck.
“Sani Lawal snapped pictures with Kachalla Halilu again; I snapped together with someone who I didn’t even know.
“After the photograph, we left the forest and went to Shinkarfi and entered a Hilux car to Sokoto.
“On our way, Musa gave me N200, 000 and also gave Sani N200, 000,” he said.
Arrest
When the lawyer asked him how he got to the police station when he got to Sokoto, the witness said: “When we arrived in Sokoto, I went to my house and Musa went to his house and Sani Lawal went to Musa’s house.
“After some months, I was told that Musa was arrested.
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“Musa’s wife called me and said Musa told her that I should switch off my phone before the police would come and arrest me.”
On how he got to the police station, the witness said: “In the morning, I reported myself to state CID, Sokoto Command. I went to the state’s CID Command, where I met a police man where I was investigated.”
Trial judge, Mr Nwite, adjourned the matter until 23 and 26 May for cross examination and continuation of trial.
Charges
In the case filed on 16 December 2024, the federal government charged four defendants – Musa Muhammad Kamarawa; Abubakar Hashimu, a.k.a. Doctor; Samuel Chinedu and Lucky Chukwuma – with various terrorism offences. The Director, Department of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, M.B. Abubakar, signed the filing on behalf of the federal government.
Four others – Bashir Abdullahi, Mr Turji, Aminu Muhammad and Sani Lawal – said to be at large were charged in the case as the 3rd, the 6th, the 7th and the 8th defendants, respectively.
In count one, the prosecution alleged that Musa Kamarawa; Abubakar Hashimu, aka Doctor; Bashir Abdullahi; Samuel Chinedu; Lucky Chukwuma; Bello Turji (at large); Aminu Muhammad (at large) and Sani Lawal (at large), conspired among themselves to commit the terror act.
They were alleged to have provided material services to terrorists groups led by Turji, Kachalla Halilu, Danbokolo, Lawali, Atarwatse, Buderi and others, by procuring and supplying illicit drugs, including penta injections and cannabis plants (aka indian hemp); food items; military and police uniforms, camouflage.
They were also alleged to have supplied boots, caps and building materials, including bags of cement, cover zinc, bags of nails, M.M. iron rod, etc., to terrorist camps in the forests located in Zamfara, Sokoto and Kaduna States.
The offence acts were said to be contrary to Section 17 of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013 and punishable under the same section of the Act.
In count four, the prosecution alleged that sometime in 2021 in Sokoto State, Kamarawa, Muhammad (at large) and Lawal (at large) aided and abetted the commission of acts of terrorism by acquiring a military gun truck from Libya and supplying same to a terrorist, Kachalla Halilu, at a cost of approximately N28.5 million .
They were alleged to have paid for the gun truck partly in cash and partly via electronic transfer.
The offences, the federal government said, were contrary to sections 8 (1) (b) and 18 (a) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013.
(NAN)
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