Alhaji Usman Adamu, the Sarkin Fulani of Kwara State, his brother, and one Gidado Idris have bagged life imprisonment for conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping itself.
The convicts were on Thursday sentenced by a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin after finding them guilty of kidnapping one Abubakar Ahmad mid 2022 and allegedly collected a ransom of N1 million before his eventual release after spending 20 days in captivity.
Idowu Ayoola, the Kwara State Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, arraigned the trio before Justice Adenike Akinpelu for alleged conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping itself.
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In her judgment, Justice Akinpelu said they agreed to commit a crime, adding that it was immaterial whether they were physically present at the kidnapping scene or not.
According to her, the convicts “supposedly arrested their victim, claiming that he was a kidnapping suspect to extort money from him.
“I am not persuaded by the submissions of counsel to defendants counsel to dismiss the two-count charge against them based on the fact that they were not at the scene of the incident. she
“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 subjects. They are hereby found guilty as charged and are so convicted,” she said.
After listening to the convicts allocutus plea, the judge held that “by Section 15 of the Lead State Anti-Kidnapping Law, the court cannot exercise any discretion of leniency, so you are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence is to run concurrently.”
