Days after securing a 20-year jail term against ISWAP commander Hussaini Ismaila, the Department of State Services (DSS), arraigned two men before the Federal High Court in Abuja on separate terrorism- and coup-related charges.
Abdulmalik Obadaki, alleged mastermind of the 2012 attack on Deeper Life Bible Church in Okene, Kogi State, faced a six-count terrorism charge before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Thursday.
The counts include membership of a terrorist group, conspiracy to commit terrorism, assisting acts of terrorism, concealment of information, and escape from lawful custody.
Obadaki pleaded guilty to count six, which concerns unlawful prison escape, while he pleaded not guilty to the other five counts.
Following his plea, Justice 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 arguments on the counts to which he pleaded not guilty.
The court ordered that the suspect be remanded in the custody of the secret police until the next adjourned date.
Security sources allege that following the Okene church bombing, Obadaki led deadly bank raids in Uromi, Edo State, resulting in multiple fatalities and large-scale theft.
He was previously held at Kuje Custodial Centre but escaped during the July 2022 prison break. Sources further claim he later confessed to orchestrating that jailbreak after being transferred from Kabba Custodial Centre in June 2022.
In a separate case on the same day, Innocent Chukwuemeka, a social media user, was arraigned for allegedly using his X account to canvass a military coup.
He faces six counts of publishing false information likely to cause public alarm and cyberstalking. Chukwuemeka pleaded not guilty. The judge also fixed January 26, 2026, for hearing, and he was remanded in DSS custody.
The back-to-back arraignments follow the DSS’s recent courtroom victory against Hussaini Ismaila and underscore the agency’s intensified crackdown on terrorism and activities considered dangerous to national security.
