An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has sentenced two convicted kidnappers, Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar, to death by hanging for the 2022 abduction of a female staff member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). In a detailed judgment that underscores the growing success of the Department of State Services (DSS) in prosecuting violent crimes, a third defendant, Usman Abubakar, was discharged and acquitted due to insufficient evidence linking him to the crime.
The convicts were prosecuted under Suit No. HAD/124C/2022 following the high-profile kidnapping of Omoboade Adesina, an NYSC official, on April 22, 2022, in Ekiti State. Following an extensive investigation, the DSS tracked down and arrested the suspects, subsequently building a tight case against them before the court.
Delivering the final verdict, the Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, highly commended the diligence and professionalism of the DSS prosecutors. The judge specifically pointed out that the prosecution successfully established the guilt of the first two defendants beyond a reasonable doubt, praising the forensic analysis of Call Data Records (CDRs) and the properly conducted identification parade as the crucial, airtight pieces of evidence that secured the conviction.
This severe ruling marks another significant legal milestone for the DSS in its aggressive, nationwide crackdown on kidnapping, terrorism, and cross-border crimes. The landmark verdict follows closely on the heels of another major prosecution victory where a Sokoto State High Court sentenced three individuals to death for terrorism-related offences and arms proliferation, alongside similar recent convictions secured by the intelligence agency against criminal elements in Kogi State.
