Two graduates of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State—Ojo Babajide (31) and Olajide Nathaniel (35)—have been sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping Atana Emmanuel, a student of the same institution, on March 23, 2022.
An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, on Thursday handed down the judgement, with each of the convicts receiving 15 years without the option of a fine.
Their trial began on July 19, 2022, on charges of conspiracy and kidnapping. According to the judge, they are to spend 10 years each in prison for kidnapping and five years each for conspiracy.
Passing the judgment, Justice Adeniyi Familoni said the offences contravened Sections 280 and 279 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021.
The judge noted that incidents of kidnapping appeared unabated despite genuine and concerted efforts to curb the crime, stating that the defendants “cannot escape the consequences of their action.”
Justice Familoni ruled: “They deserve more than a slap on the wrist as the penal sanction for their misdeed, to serve as a deterrent to others. The sentences are to run concurrently with effect from May 21, 2025.”
Victim narrates ordeal
Earlier, the victim, Atana Emmanuel, in his statement to the police, said he was a student of FUOYE and a salon operator at the time of the incident.
He disclosed that he was in his salon around 7 p.m. when the defendants approached him and ordered him into a waiting car. “I initially refused, but I was forced to do their bidding.”
Emmanuel revealed that he was first taken to an unknown location in Oye-Ekiti before finding himself in a hotel along Ikere Road, Ado Ekiti. He said, “They made me pay for lodging in the hotel room through mobile transfer.”
“I was forced to call my relatives to pay a ransom of N1,000,000 for my release. Through phone calls, I was able to raise N101,000.
“When they realized that I or my family didn’t have the financial capacity to make further payment, I was instructed to remove my clothes, and they flogged me with a horsewhip. I sustained bruises all over my body before I was later released,” he said.
The defendants, through their lawyer, Akinola Abon, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that they were fresh graduates preparing for their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. However, the trial judge sentenced them to jail as a deterrent to others.
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