The Serikin Fulani also known as Ardo (Head of the Fulani) in Kwara State, Usman Adamu, his brother and one Gidado Idris, have been jailed for life for conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping.
The judgment was delivered on Thursday by Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
The case was investigated by the Department of State Services and prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution in the state Ministry of Justice.
According to the DPP, Mr Ayoola Akande, the community leader and the other suspects abducted one Abubakar Ahmad and collected N1 million as ransom before his release after spending 20 days with them in the bush.
The DPP told the court that the suspects carried out the operation between May and June of 2022.
The three defendants agreed to commit the offence, according to the fact obtained by Justice Akinpelu, who added that whether they were physically present at the kidnap scene was immaterial.
She added that the convicts “supposedly arrested their victim claiming that he was a kidnap suspect to extort money from him.
“I am not persuaded by the submissions of counsel for the defendants to dismiss the two- count charge against them based on the fact that they were not at the scene of the incident.”
Justice Akinpelu lamented that “it is saddening and disturbing that community leaders charged with the welfare of their subjects could because of the love of money breach the security of the same subjects.
“They are hereby found guilty as charged and are so convicted”.
After listening to the convicts allocutus plea of having over 20 children, more than eight wives and being the breadwinner of their family, the judge said that “by Section 15 of the Kwara State Anti-Kidnapping Law, the court cannot exercise any discretion of leniency, so you are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence is to run concurrently”.
She ordered that N600,000 be paid to Ahmad who is the victim of the abduction.