The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the conviction and handed Lucky Okonkwo, one of the five convicted kidnappers of Alhaja Muibat, the wife of a former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Nojeem Salaam.
The apex court, in a unanimous judgment of a five-member panel, held that Okonkwo’s appeal was without merit.
In the judgment read on Friday by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the court held that the Okonkwo failed to persuade the court to depart from the concurrent judgments of the two lower courts: the Appeal of Appeal, Akure Division, and the High Court of Osun State.
The court affirmed the judgment of March 30, 2021, which earlier upheld the judgment of the High Court of Osun State.
The speaker’s wife was abducted in Ejigbo, Osun State, on October 9, 2012, on her way home from work.
On October 22, 2013, a High Court in Osun State convicted the five men charged by the police in relation to the incident and tried them on a three-count charge.
Convicted with Okonkwo (who was said to be 33 years old) by the Osun High Court were – Chukwudi Okereke (40), Ogbole Ochijile Elijah (25), Kaikine Mahah (35) and Philip Nwadinnor (30).
In his judgment, Justice Moshood Adeigbe (of the Osun while delivering the High Court of Osun State ) held that the prosecution proved it’s case beyond reasonable doubt that the kidnappers met and conspired before they executed their plans.
Justice Adeigbe added: “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 Mrs. Salaam, forced her into a truck 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 has established its case and therefore found the five accused persons guilty of conspiracy, kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms,” the judge said.
Justice Adeigbe sentenced each of the five defendants to seven years on the first count of conspiracy; 10 years for kidnapping and another 10 years for unlawfully possession of firearms.
