By Sabiu Abdullahi
A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced a nursing mother, Halima Haliru Umar, to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to charges linked to terrorism and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Halima was arraigned by the Department of State Services (DSS) on a four-count charge. The court convicted her on two of the charges after she admitted guilt during proceedings.
Justice Hauwa Yilwa, who delivered the judgement on Friday, said the court was satisfied with the prosecution’s evidence and the defendant’s admission.
“The defendant, having admitted the facts of the offence as presented by the prosecution, the court is satisfied,” the judge said.
“She is accordingly convicted on counts three and four.”
The court handed Halima a 20-year jail term on count three and another one-year sentence on count four.
The judge fixed July 9 for continuation of trial on the remaining two charges, which the defendant denied.
Earlier, defence counsel Hamza Dantani appealed to the court for leniency. He described the convict as a first-time offender who had shown remorse.
Dantani also informed the court that Halima is a nursing mother and that her one-year-old child was arrested with her.
Counsel to the DSS, Caliatus Eze, told the court that the agency found no previous criminal record against the defendant.
Court documents identified Halima as a resident of Unguwan Boka in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State. She was accused of attempting to aid terrorism by transporting 302 rounds of AK-47 ammunition between Barkin Ladi and Jos North local government areas of Plateau State.
While presenting evidence before the court, DSS operative Fahad Tahir explained that Halima was arrested in Plateau State on July 7, 2025, before she was moved to the DSS headquarters in Abuja for further investigation on August 11, 2025.
According to Tahir, investigators recovered ammunition, statements and other exhibits from the suspect.
“We received the defendant with the following items: 302 live rounds of ammunition; her voluntary confessional statement, written in Hausa and English; the statement of the arresting officer; the compact disc containing the audio-visual recording of her interview session, investigation report from the Plateau state command and the sum of N57,100,” Tahir told the court while giving evidence.
“After receiving the defendant and the items mentioned, we proceeded to conduct further investigation into the case by examining the items earlier mentioned and also interviewed the defendant, which was audio/visually recorded and in the presence of an official of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria.”
The DSS operative further told the court that the suspect confessed that a man identified as Sani directed her movements before the arrest.
“In the course of the interview, she narrated how, on the 6th of July, 2025, one Sani instructed her to go to Zaria in Kaduna state to help him collect a message from someone,” he said.
“She said Sani gave her the sum of N50,000 for her travel expenses.”
Tahir said the defendant later travelled to Jos after receiving further instructions.
“She stated that, upon her arrival in Zaria, Sani further instructed her to proceed to Jos in Plateau state,” he added.
“On getting to Jos, Sani directed her to one Alhaji, who later handed over a waste bag containing 302 live ammunitions.”
According to him, security operatives arrested the suspect while she was returning with the ammunition.
“She stated that on her way back to Jos, she was arrested while being in possession of the 302 rounds of live ammunition,” Tahir said.
He also informed the court that the defendant gave her statement in Hausa because she could not speak English fluently.
“She volunteered her statement in the Hausa language, and it was interpreted by my colleague into the English language since she is illiterate in the English language,” he said.
“At the conclusion of our investigation, we wrote our investigation report and submitted it to the director.”
