A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, the state capital, on Thursday, sentenced Serikin Fulani of Kwara, Usman Adamu, his brother and one Gidaddo Idris to life imprisonment.
They were arraigned for conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping.
The convicts were accused of kidnapping one Abubakar Ahmad and collecting N1 million ransom before releasing their victim after 20 days in captivity. The incident happened in the middle of last year.
The case was prosecuted by Kwara State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Idowu Ayoola.
In her judgement, Justice Adenike Akinpelu, said that the trio were all in agreement to commit the crime.
She added that whether they were physically present at the kidnap scene was immaterial.
According to the judge, the convicts “supposedly arrested their victim claiming that he was a kidnap suspect to extort money from him.
“I am not persuaded by the submissions of counsel to the defendants to dismiss the two count charge against them based on the fact that they were not at the scene of the incident”, she noted.
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 subjects.
“They are hereby found guilty as charged and are so convicted,” she added.
After listening to the convicts’ allocutus plea, the judge said that “by section 15 of the state Anti Kidnapping Law, the court cannot exercise any discretion of leniency.
She then “sentenced them to life imprisonment to run concurrently.”
She ordered that the sum of N600,000 be paid to the victim.
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