UN Building bombing: Court admits DSS evidence against Al-Barnawi, other terrorists

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday admitted three video clips provided by the Department of State Services (DSS) as evidence in the trial of five alleged masterminds of the 2011 bombing of the United Nations Complex in Abuja.

The clips are intended to challenge the suspects’ claims that their extra-judicial statements were made under duress.

Presiding Judge Justice Emeka Nwite scheduled December 5 for the continuation of the trial-within-a-trial involving Khalid Al‑Barnawi and four co-defendants—Mohammed Bashir Saleh, Umar Mohammed Bello (aka Datti), Mohammed Salisu, and Yakubu Nuhu (aka Bello Maishayi).

The session will include the playback of the video clips to determine whether the defendants’ statements to the DSS were voluntary.

The suspects are accused of orchestrating the August 26, 2011 bombing, which killed at least 20 people and injured over 70 others.

Al-Barnawi was captured in 2016 and has been undergoing trial alongside the other four suspects.

The proceedings have faced repeated delays due to legal and procedural challenges, including the absence of legal representation on several occasions.

However, DSS Director-General Oluwatosin Ajayi has pushed for a speedy trial for all ongoing terrorism cases.

Earlier on Friday, Justice Nwite also admitted extra-judicial statements from three other terrorism suspects—Haruna Ali Abbas, Ibrahim Hussaini Musa, and Adam Sulaiman—accused of spying on U.S. and Israeli interests on behalf of individuals in Iran.

The trial-within-a-trial, ongoing since 2014, sought to determine whether the suspects’ statements were voluntary.

While the defendants claimed they were coerced, the prosecution presented witnesses who testified that the suspects were treated humanely and given access to food, medication, and their families.

Justice Nwite ruled that the prosecution had sufficiently proven that the statements were made voluntarily, admitting them as exhibits.

The court adjourned the substantive hearing of the case to January 22, 2026.