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Abuja.
The Department of State Services (DSS) on Friday narrated before the Federal High Court in Abuja how it tracked and arrested a man accused of threatening violent attacks on some elite schools in the Federal Capital Territory.
Testifying as the first prosecution witness, Michael Jego told Justice Joyce Abdulmalik that the defendant, John Agbo, allegedly sent a series of text messages to schools, threatening to kill students and teachers and destroy property.
Jego said the DSS began investigation in 2024 after receiving petitions from Premier International School, The Regent Secondary School and Oakland International British School over alarming messages sent from multiple phone numbers.
According to him, the messages contained explicit threats to attack the schools and kill both students and staff within minutes.
The witness explained that the agency deployed technology to trace the origin of the messages, leading operatives to Otukpo in Benue State, where the suspect was arrested.
A Tecno Android phone and a SIM card, allegedly used in sending the messages, were recovered from him.
Agbo, who was arraigned on March 17, is facing a two-count charge bordering on terrorism and cybercrime under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act, 2024.
The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/06/2026, alleges that he used multiple GSM numbers to send threatening SMS to the schools.
During the trial, the prosecution, led by Calistus Eze, tendered several exhibits, including the recovered phone, petitions from the affected schools, a compact disc containing audio-visual recordings of the defendant’s interview, and his extra-judicial statement.
The court admitted the items without objection from defence counsel, Hamza Dantani.
Although the defendant admitted being familiar with the recovered phone, he denied ownership.
Under cross-examination, Jego acknowledged that the petitions did not initially mention the defendant by name and that the phone numbers were supplied by the schools.
He, however, maintained that the defendant admitted involvement in composing the threatening messages and was arrested in possession of the device.
Following the testimony, the prosecution sought an adjournment to present additional witnesses and evidence, which the defence did not oppose.
Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the case until May 12 for continuation of trial.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
