•Herdsmen
An Osun State High Court sitting in Ede today, Tuesday July 2, sentenced a middle-aged herdsman, Issa Ibrahim alongside others to death for kidnapping, killing, and dismembering the corpse of his father, Adamu Ibrahim over inheritance.
The convicts; Lateef Bello, Abdulrahman Soliu, Bello Ibrahim, and Jolaanabi Saheed were arraigned on October 28, 2021 alongside the mother of Jolaanabi (Ajibola Saheed) on four counts of conspiracy, murder, and kidnapping, reports The Nation.
However, they pleaded not guilty to the alleged offences.
The defence counsel from the Osun State Ministry of Justice, Assistant Director, Moses Faremi during the trial called three witnesses; two sons of the deceased and a police officer.
He tendered evidence against them including a stool, club, and others recovered from the house of Jolaanabi where the deceased was kept at Owode-Ede after he was kidnapped on April 17, 2017.
Faremi stated: “They kidnapped Adamu from his house and took him to the house of Jolaanabi. They demanded for ransom of N10m but later reduced it to N3m which was delivered at Sagamu in Ogun State. While the father was in their den, the veil used to cover his face fell off and he recognised his abductors. They killed him and dismembered his corpse. They threw the parts into Osun River to cover the crime.”
The presiding judge, Justice Kudirat Akano, delivering her judgment today said the prosecution counsel was able to establish that the convict committed the crime of conspiracy, murder, and kidnapping by the conventional statements and the evidence given by an eyewitness (one of the sons of the deceased).
She also noted that the evidence from one of the convicts, Issa Ibrahim who is the son of the deceased further proved that the crime was committed after he told other gang members of the failure of his father to give him his birthright, hence they should kidnap him for ransom of either money or cow.
She discharged and acquitted Ajibola Saheed (mother of the gang leader) on the ground that no evidence linked her to any of the crimes and the prosecution failed to prove it either.
She said: “For conspiracy, I sentence the convicts to 14 years imprisonment, for murder, I sentence them to death, and for kidnapping, I sentence them to 14 years imprisonment which will run concurrently.”
