Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday sentenced each of the five persons arrested on May 31, 2026, by the Department of State Services (DSS) for their involvement in the 21 November 2025 attack on St. Joseph Catholic Church, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years in prison.
Justice Binta Nyako handed the sentence shortly after the five men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all the four terrorism-related charges pressed against them.
The charges bordered on support for commission of act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, as well as the the Firearms Act.
The five men – Yusuf Mohamned (Aka Bature), Goni Ibrahim Bindi (Aka Goni Mutuwa), Sani Tukur (Aka Danladi), Mubarak Ibrahin amd Musa Alhaji Adamu (Aka Gado Banufe) were arrested at different locations by DSS operatives less than two weeks ago.
In one of the arrests, DSS operatives recovered 15 AK-47 rifles and 1,434 rounds of live ammunition tucked in sacks in a Volkswagen Golf car. The recovered arms and ammunition were tendered in court.
The court ordered the forfeiture of the Golf car to the Nigerian government. Dozens of gunmen on motorcycles had in the wee hours of November 21, 2025, stormed the Catholic Primary and Secondary Boarding School, rounding up students and teachers at gunpoint.
While about 50 of the children managed to escape in the chaos that greeted the attack, the gunmen marched over 250 of the students for days into the Kainji Lake Reserve Forest.
