Ekiti court sentences three to 97 years in prison for kidnapping ex-officer

By Boye Oyeyemi

An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti has sentenced three men to a total of 97 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping, armed robbery and illegal possession of firearms.

The convicts, Augustine Agbogbo, Adeniyi Olamilekan and Ademoh Gabriel, were handed 40, 25 and 32 years respectively, with no option of fine, by Justice Adeniyi Familoni. The court, however, cleared three other defendants, Ogungbemi Gbenga, Monday Rakiya and Oseni Mutairu, after ruling that the allegations against them were not proven.

The six suspects had earlier been arraigned on August 11, 2023, on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping, armed robbery and possession of offensive weapons.

According to the prosecution, the convicts robbed Ajibade Adeleke at Ayede Ekiti in June 2022 and later attacked Adeleke and a retired naval officer, Lt Cdr Victoria Eisape, in December 2022 at Itapaji, where they abducted them at gunpoint.

“The defendants… robbed their victims and kidnapped them while armed with guns and cutlasses,” the charge stated, adding that firearms and ammunition were later recovered from them in Iyemero Ekiti without licences.

Testifying before the court, Eisape said she and Adeleke were held hostage and a ransom of N70m was demanded before she was freed after paying N8m. “I reported the matter to the police after my release,” she said.

Delivering judgment, Justice Familoni dismissed the defendants’ denial of earlier confessions. “I find their retraction to be an afterthought and I reject their testimonies,” he ruled.

“It is my finding that the prosecution proved the offences against the first three defendants beyond reasonable doubt, while the remaining defendants are discharged and acquitted,” the judge added, noting that the sentences would run concurrently from the date of arrest.