'How DSS arrested man behind threat to kill students, teachers in Abuja schools - Witness
A Federal High Court in Abuja heard on Friday how operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) apprehended a man alleged to have sent messages to some elite schools
A Federal High Court in Abuja heard on Friday how operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) apprehended a man alleged to have sent messages to some elite schools in Abuja with a threat to kill students and teachers.
An operative of the DSS, Michael Jego, told the court that his agency received petitions from three schools in Abuja in 2024 about text messages from some telephone numbers, with a threat to kill students and teachers, and destroy property in the affected schools.
Jego spoke on Friday while testifying as the first prosecution witness (PW1) in the ongoing trial of Agbo, in whose possession the witness said a Techno android phone, allegedly used by the suspect, identified as John Jude Agbo, to send the threat messages, was recovered.
Agbo, who was arraigned on March 17 on a two-count charge, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/06/2026, is being prosecuted by the DSS under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 and the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2024.
The DSS, in a case summary filed in court, said the defendant is "standing trial on charges of using the instrumentality of his GSM numbers: 08124412783, 08069781274, 08105715028, and 09139681108 to send SMS to some schools in Abuja."
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The secret police listed Premier International School, The Regent Secondary School, and Oakland International British School as the schools where Agbo sent the threat messages.
The defendant was said to have, in the text messages, "threatened to attack the schools and kill both students and teachers," stressing that it wouldn't take them up to a minute to achieve that.
The DSS stated that the act constituted offences contrary to Section 24 (1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and Section 18 (1) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (Amendment) Act, 2024.
Led in evidence by the lawyer for the prosecution, Dr. Calistus Eze, Jego said his team was instructed to investigate a petition received from Oakland International School on November 28, 2024.
The witness said his team, in the course of investigation, deployed technology to track the suspect to Otukpo in Benue State, where he was arrested, and a mobile phone and a SIM card were recovered from him.
Jego further told the court that the defendant was brought to Abuja and interviewed, following which he volunteered his statement in the presence of a lawyer from the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACN).
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The prosecution subsequently tendered the recovered mobile phone, a Techno Android phone; petitions from the schools, a compact disc containing audiovisual recording of the defendant's interview and statement-making sessions, a copy of the defendant's extra-judicial statement, among others.
The court admitted all the documents and items in evidence in the absence of objection from the defence lawyer, Hamza Dantani.
The defendant, who confirmed being familiar with the Techno android phone, however, denied being the owner.
While being cross-examined by Dantani, Jego said his organisation received complaints from the schools through petitions.
He said the petitions did not reflect the defendant's name, and the petitioners provided both the phone numbers used to send the SMS and the text messages themselves.
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Jego said he did not know if the phone numbers belonged to the defendant, but the defendant admitted being part of those who composed the text messages.
The witness added that Agbo was arrested in possession of the recovered mobile phone and admitted to being part of those behind the text messages.
At the conclusion of the cross-examination, Eze sought an adjournment to bring more witnesses and exhibits, a request Dantani did not object to.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik thereafter adjourned the trial to May 12 for continuation.
