An Osun State High Court sitting
in Iwo has sentenced five men
who kidnapped the wife of the
Speaker of the state House of
Assembly, Alhaja Muibat Salaam,
to 27 years in prison.

Justice Moshood Adeigbe while
delivering the judgment held
that the prosecutors had been
able to prove beyond
reasonable doubt that the
kidnappers met and conspired
before they kidnapped their
victim.

The five persons convicted by
the court are: Chukwudi
Okereke (40); Ogbole Ochijile
Elijah (25); Lucky Okonkwo
(33); Kaikine Mahah (35); and
Philip Nwadinnor (30).

The judge ruled that each of
the five convicts would spend
seven years in prison for the
charge of conspiracy; he
sentenced them to 10 years
imprisonment for the count of
kidnapping; and 10 years for
the charge of unlawful
possession of firearms. He
ruled that the jail terms would
run concurrently since the
charges arose from the same
crime.

The Speaker’s wife was
kidnapped in Ejigbo, Osun State
on October 9, 2012 by men
armed with guns while she was
returning home from work.

The judge said, “The
confessional statements were
clear that the accused persons
met at Royal Hotel in Agbor,
Delta State where they planned
the kidnap, perfected it in Lagos
and carried it out in Ejigbo.

“The exhibits also showed that
the five accused persons
kidnapped the PW2 (Mrs.
Salaam), forced her into a trailer
and dragged her into the bush
on their way to Lagos before
men of the Ogun State Police
Command arrested them. I hold
that the prosecution have
established their case and
therefore found the five
accused persons guilty of
conspiracy, kidnapping and
unlawful possession of
firearms.”

The prosecution team led by
the Attorney-General and
Commissioner for Justice, Mr.
Adewale Afolabi, told the court
that the convicts had confessed
to the kidnapping in the
confessional statements each
of them gave to the police
during investigation.

However, the defence counsel,
Messrs. Sam George and
Fredrick Komolafe had urged
the judge to temper justice with
mercy because the accused
persons were married men
with children.

But Justice Adeigbe ruled that
the kidnappers deserved the full
punishment of the law because
kidnapping was a heartless and
condemnable offence.
The defence counsel vowed to
appeal the judgment, saying
the confessional statements
were not tested. They said that
the best thing was to have
ordered a trial within trial to
be able to authenticate the
statements.

Source:- www.punchng.com/news/osun-speakers-wifes-abductors-jailed-27-years-each/

The jail terms is running concurrently so the maximum for each person to serve is 10yrs.
I not going to say this is too much for kidnappers buh i wonder how many years the few elements holdin this nation to ransom get to serve.

Ok

Five less criminal minded biafrans to deal with,seems there own way of being industrious is taking to crimes.