A high court in Ekiti State has sentenced two men to 25 years each in prison for kidnapping a woman on her farm.
The convicted persons are Ibrahim Abubakar, aged 44, and Abdulahi Abubakar, aged 41. Justice Lekan Ogunmoye delivered the judgment on Wednesday at the high court in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
A third suspect, Usman Abubakar, aged 49, was discharged and acquitted because the victim did not mention his name during the trial. The fourth suspect, Abdulazeez Alebiosu, aged 59, died while the case was still pending in court.
The court heard that the victim, Omoboade Adesina, was kidnapped on April 22, 2022, at off Federal Polytechnic Road in Ado Ekiti. Her husband, Taiwo Adesina, had been shot dead on their farm weeks earlier on March 9, 2022.
Speaking in court, the woman said: “The deceased was my husband. I was a staff member of the NYSC in Ekiti State.”
She recounted how her husband was killed: “On the fateful day, I received a call that a gang of gunmen came to my husband’s farm. He tried to escape but was shot in the head and was rushed to Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.”
After mourning for some days, she returned to the farm with her son and brother-in-law. “I heard a knock on the gate. My brother-in-law went to open the gate but ran back to inform us that there were gunmen,” she told the court.
“We quickly locked the door, they jumped in through the fence, they gained access and dragged me out. I was taken on a motorcycle to an unknown destination.”
The kidnappers used her phone to demand N10 million. Her relatives could only raise N3.25 million, which was paid before she was released.
The victim said: “I could see some of the gunmen’s faces clearly when I was in their captivity and recognised them when they were paraded by the police.”
The prosecutor, Kunle-Shina Adeyemo, called seven witnesses and presented the defendants’ statements and MTN call logs as evidence.
The two convicted men spoke in their defence through their lawyer, Chris Omokhafe, but called no witnesses.
Justice Ogunmoye ruled that the prosecution did not prove that the men conspired to kill Taiwo Adesina. All the defendants were discharged and acquitted on the charges of conspiracy and murder. However, on the kidnapping charge, the judge said: “The 1st and 3rd defendants are hereby sentenced to 25 years imprisonment each.”
