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Oyo school abduction: Court sentences three culprits to life imprisonment
The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced three culprits linked to the Oriire school abduction in Oyo State to life imprisonment
Justice Salim Ibrahim ordered that the life sentence of the three convicts, Abdulrazak Umar, alias Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid; Yunusa Musa, alias Yunusa Bin Musa; and Shamsu Adamu Sani, alias Abu Itisar, would commence from the date of their arrest.
Counsel for the defence had argued that the defendants were first-time offenders who had pleaded guilty to the charges against them, thereby seeking leniency from the court.
The lawyer noted that the suspects had demonstrated remorse through their guilty plea, while arguing that their offences were not directly related to the kidnapping.
The defence counsel added that the suspects were married with children, in addition to elderly parents depending on them for support, appealing to the judge to give them “a second chance at life” through lighter sentence.
The prosecution opposed the leniency plea, arguing that the convicts ought to have informed relevant authorities as lawful citizens, since they were aware of those involved in the criminal operation, but instead concealed it.
The judge in his ruling sentenced the three defendants to life imprisonment.
The defendants who are all from Niger State were charged with knowingly withholding information about individuals linked to terrorist activities, participating in kidnapping, and using a messaging platform to facilitate terrorist training.
Details later…
