An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti has convicted three individuals for kidnapping, armed robbery, and unlawful possession of weapons, sentencing them to a combined 97 years in prison without the option of a fine.
The convicts; Augustine Agbogbo, Adeniyi Olamilekan, and Ademoh Gabriel, were handed jail terms of 40, 25, and 32 years respectively.
However, the court discharged and acquitted three other defendants; Ogungbemi Gbenga, Monday Rakiya, and Oseni Mutairu, after ruling that the prosecution failed to establish the charges against them beyond reasonable doubt.
The six defendants were initially arraigned before Justice Adeniyi Familoni on August 11, 2023, on a six-count charge that included conspiracy, kidnapping, armed robbery, and illegal possession of offensive weapons.
According to the prosecution, the offences were committed at different locations across Ekiti State.
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The accused were alleged to have conspired to rob one Ajibade Adeleke of N15,000 in Ayede on June 6, 2022.
They were also accused of robbing a retired naval officer, Lt Cdr Victoria Eisape, of N40,000 at Itapaji on December 20, 2022, and abducting her on the same day. The charge further stated that the victims were kidnapped at gunpoint and held captive.
The prosecution also told the court that on April 6, 2023, the defendants were found at Iyemero Ekiti with three long-barrelled firearms, 33 live cartridges, and 56 spent cartridges without valid licences.
Testifying before the court, the retired naval officer, Victoria Eisape, recounted how she and another victim were abducted along the Itapaji–Iyemero Road.
She said the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N70 million and that she was eventually released after N8 million was paid.
The prosecution counsel, Albert Adeyemi, presented seven witnesses and tendered several exhibits, including the defendants’ statements, a search warrant, firearms, ammunition, and other recovered items.
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The defence team, led by Chris Omokhafe and Olakanmi Falade, did not call any witnesses.
In his judgment, Justice Familoni dismissed the defendants’ retraction of their confessional statements, describing it as an afterthought.
He subsequently found Agbogbo, Olamilekan, and Gabriel guilty of conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping, and unlawful possession of weapons.
The judge ruled that the sentences would run concurrently and would take effect from the date of their arrest and remand, bringing the total term to 97 years’ imprisonment without an option of fine