“Federal High Court Abuja sentences suspects in Oriire abduction to life imprisonment.

Three suspects were sentenced for their roles in the abduction of students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

The convicts were found guilty of hiding knowledge of the masterminds of the attack after confessing to the charges brought against them by the Federal Government.

The three defendants had earlier pleaded guilty during proceedings before Justice Salem Ibrahim of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

They were also accused of being members of Darul Salam, which authorities said was an affiliate of Ansaru, a banned terrorist organisation in Nigeria.

The defendants during their arraignment confessed to have failed to disclose information concerning those alleged to have masterminded the kidnapping in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State.

Their guilty pleas made it possible for the court to convict them on the charges.

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Later, the court sentenced the three convicts to life imprisonment for their role in the incident.

The first and third defendants, Abdulrazak Umar and Shamsudin Adamu, also admitted giving training and instructions to members of a WhatsApp group.

The group, called “The Oneness of Allah is the Foundation of Peace,” was allegedly used to incite members to commit acts of terrorism, according to the prosecution.

Umar and Adamu pleaded guilty to the charges in court.

The defendants had also pleaded guilty to being members of Darul Salam, which was described in the charges as an affiliate of the proscribed terrorist organisation Ansaru.

Umar also admitted a second charge of engaging in gold mining without lawful authorisation.

He was accused by the prosecution of illegally mining gold at streams in the Chaza area of Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State.

The post Oriire School Kidnappers Sentenced to Life Imprisonment by Court appeared first on TheNigerian.

Abel Udo Jacob, a lecturer at Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic in Ikot Osurua, and Nicholas Ntokon, an innocent man, were found guilty by the State High Court of offenses related to terrorism, extortion, and cultism.

While his counterpart, Innocent, would serve eight years in prison, lecturer Abel would be imprisoned for three years.

Ntokon and Jacob were found guilty by trial judge Hon. Justice Augustine Odokwo on Wednesday of subjecting local businessman Edikan Jacob Jackson to a “merciless extortion scheme” that caused him to lose over N50,000,000 and nearly bring down his family business.

The prosecution demonstrated that between 2016 and 2020, Innocent Ntokon intimidated the victim by using his leadership role in Klans Konfraternity.

The professor served as the syndicate’s “financial clearinghouse,” while Ntokon deployed armed “enforcers” to the victim’s stores and threatened to kill the victim’s mother and sisters in order to extract monthly payments.

His position that he thought the millions going through his account were for “NDDC roofing contracts” was dismissed by the court, which called the argument “totally not in accord with common sense.”

Following the two-hour verdict, the defendants begged for forgiveness.

“The victim was psychologically terrorized for four years and lost his father partly due to a lack of funds caused by this very extortion,” the court stated in evaluating their appeal for compassion, highlighting the need for the court to evaluate the severity of the psychological damage imposed on the victims.

In assessing the evidence, Justice Odokwo called Ntokon a “predator who used the cloak of a trader to hide the heart of a hardened and merciless cultist and extortionist” and sentenced him to eight years in prison (to run consecutively).

After being found guilty on charges of terrorism, stealing, and demanding with menace, Abel Udo Jacob was given a maximum term of three years in prison (to run concurrently).

Additionally, the court mandated that the convicted parties pay the victim N25,000,000 jointly and severally.

In order to partially compensate the nominal complainant, the court further mandated that a Toyota Avensis and a Mercedes Benz that were found to be proceeds of the crime be forfeited to the State and put up for auction.

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