An Ekiti State High Court has sentenced two men to death by hanging for kidnapping a staff member of the National Youth Service Corps, following a prosecution led by the Department of State Services.
The convicts, Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar, were found guilty of abducting Omoboade Adesina, an NYSC staff member, in Ekiti State on April 22, 2022.
Delivering judgment in suit number HAD/124C/2022 at the High Court in Ado-Ekiti, Chief Judge Lekan Ogunmoye held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court sentenced the two defendants to death by hanging.
A third defendant, Usman Abubakar, was discharged after the court ruled that the evidence presented failed to establish his involvement in the crime.
According to court proceedings, the DSS arrested and prosecuted the suspects following an investigation into the abduction.
In his judgment, Ogunmoye commended the DSS prosecution team for its handling of the case, citing the identification parade and analysis of call data records as critical pieces of evidence that linked the convicted men to the kidnapping.
“The prosecution successfully established the case beyond reasonable doubt,” the judge said, while highlighting the investigative steps that led to the conviction.
The ruling marks another major conviction secured by the DSS in its campaign against violent crimes.
The agency recently recorded similar courtroom victories, including the conviction of kidnappers and the sentencing of terrorism and arms-trafficking suspects in other parts of the country.
Security officials said the judgment underscores ongoing efforts to strengthen the fight against kidnapping, terrorism and other serious crimes through intelligence-led investigations and prosecution.
They reiterated that perpetrators of violent crimes would continue to face the full weight of the law.
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