By Joe Udo
ABUJA (CONVERSEER) – Two days after securing the sentencing of a leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Hussaini Ismaila, to 20 years imprisonment for terrorism, the Department of State Services (DSS) on Thursday in Abuja arraigned the suspected mastermind of the 2012 attack on Deeper Life Bible Church, Okene, Kogi State, Abdulmalik Abdulazeez Obadaki.
The six-count charge against Obadaki before a Federal High Court includes membership of a terrorist group, conspiracy, rendering assistance to acts of terrorism, concealment of information on activities of a terrorist group, and escape from lawful custody.
He pleaded guilty to count six, which is escape from lawful custody. On the other five counts, however, he pleaded not guilty.
Following Obadaki’s plea, the presiding judge, Justice Joyce Obehi Abdulmalik, adjourned the matter to January 26, 2026, to enable the court to review facts relating to the count he pleaded guilty to, and to hear those he pleaded not guilty to.
The court ordered that the suspect be remanded in the custody of the secret police until the next adjourned date.
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Recall that after the Okene church attack, Obadaki was believed to have later led a gang that raided five commercial banks in Uromi, Edo State, killed several persons, and carted away huge sums of cash.
He, however, was trailed and arrested by security forces and remanded at the Kuje Prison but escaped shortly during the July 2022 jailbreak at the Kuje Custodial Centre.
Security sources disclosed that the suspected terrorist leader confessed to orchestrating the Kuje Custodial Centre jailbreak following his transfer from Kabba Custodial Centre in June 2022.
