A Kwara state High Court sitting in Ilorin Thursday sentenced Sarkin Fulani of Kwara, Usman Adamu, his brother and one Gidaddo Idris to life imprisonment for conspiracy to kidnap.
The convicts were accused of kidnapping one Abubakar Ahmad and allegedly collected a ransom of N1 million before his eventual release after spending 20 days in captivity. The incident happened in the middle of 2022.
Kwara state director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Idowu Ayoola, brought the then defendants before the court for alleged conspiracy to kidnap.
In her judgment, Justice Adenike Akinpelu, said the trio were all in agreement to commit a crime, adding that whether they were physically present at the kidnap scene was immaterial.
She said the convicts “supposedly arrested their victim, claiming that he was a kidnap suspect to extort money from him.”
The judge added: “I am not persuaded by the submissions of counsel to defendant’s counsel to dismiss the two count charge against them based on the fact that they were not at the scene of the incident.”
Justice Akinpelu lamented that, “it is saddening and disturbing that community leaders charged with the welfare of their subjects could because of the love of money breach the security of the same subject. They are hereby found guilty as charged and are so convicted.”
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