14 February 2024 :

An Enugu State High Court on February 7, 2024 sentenced Chiamaka Ifezue to death by hanging for killing an Enugu-based makeup artist, Ijeoma Nweke.
The court, presided over by Honourable Justice Kenneth Okpe, in a two-hour judgement on February 7 found the accused, Chiamaka Ifezue, guilty of killing the victim by forcing her to drink a poisonous substance.
The corpse of the make-up artist was found around Maryland within Enugu Metropolis on November 16, 2020.
Nweke had left home on November 11, for a job but went missing afterwards.
Her supposed client, having refused to disclose the location for the job, asked the deceased to stop at the Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) bus stop, where she will then be taken to the venue.
Nweke, having perceived foul play, sent the client’s phone number to her brother via text.
Her phones were unreachable after hours leading to suspicion that she might have been kidnapped.
This led to a frantic search for her by friends and relatives until early on November 16 morning when her corpse was found at Maryland in Enugu.
Eyewitnesses said that her corpse was mutilated with a substance suspected to be acid.

23 April 2024 :

An Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo, on April 18, 2024 sentenced Wasiu Afolayan (36) and Kola Adeyemi (34), to death by hanging for offences bordering on conspiracy and armed robbery.
The presiding judge, Ayo Oyebiyi, passed a guilty verdict on the two men after it was established that they were serial robbers, who had engaged in many robbery operations within Osogbo metropolis.
The defendants had been arraigned on four counts of conspiracy, armed robbery, armed robbery, and unlawful possession of arms.
The offences were contrary to and punishable under Section 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearms (special provisions) Act, Cap R.11, Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
But while taking their plea, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the offences pressed against them.
The prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice, Mr. Bewaji Adeniji, during the trial, told the court that on December 7, 2018, at a place near C.A.C No. 16, Oke-Onitea Area, Osogbo, Wasiu Afolayan and Kola Adeyemi laid siege on the area and robbed residents.
Afolayan, who was arrested at the scene of the crime, during interrogation, told the police, about Adeyemi’s involvement which led to him being arrested in Ikire town.
Before they were caught, the same gang, had on November 26, 2018, engaged in a robbery operation at No. 3, Oduola, Street, Igbona Area, Osogbo, where they shot dead one Olaniyi Adewale.
Also during the trial, Adeniji called six witnesses and tendered several exhibits including the extra-judicial statements made at both Divisional Police Headquarters and SCID in Osun Command Headquarters.
The defence counsel, Mr Ayodele Olaniyan, pleaded for the court’s leniency, saying his clients were first-time offenders.
But Justice Oyebiyi while delivering his judgement said that prosecuting counsel was able to prove the charges against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
He found the defendants guilty of the offences bordering on armed robbery, and he subsequently sentenced them to death by hanging.

16 April 2024 :

A Nigerian court on March 26, 2024 sentenced a Chinese national to death after finding him guilty of killing his girlfriend, a government official told The Associated Press, vowing to recommend execution if he unsuccessfully appeals the ruling.
Frank Geng-Quangrong was convicted by a local court in northern Nigeria's economic hub of Kano state, Kano Justice Commissioner Haruna Dederi said. Geng-Quangrong had pleaded not guilty.
"This is a signal that whoever is coming to a society should be prepared to comply with the extant laws of that society," Dederi said.
Death sentences for capital offenses are common in Nigeria and sometimes involve foreigners. A Danish man in 2022 was sentenced to die by hanging for killing his wife and daughter.
However, executions rarely occur as they require approvals by state governors. Only two warrants for death sentences have been signed since 1999, according to Inibehe Effiong, a Nigerian human rights lawyer.
Geng-Quangrong was accused of stabbing his girlfriend, 22-year-old Ummukulsum Sani, in September 2022 at a Kano residence. Local media quoted him as saying he stabbed her in self-defense.
He has up to three months to appeal his sentence at Nigeria's Court of Appeal.

14 April 2024 :

A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, on March 18, 2024, convicted and sentenced five people to death by hanging for the murder of Umezuruike Alex, the commander of a local vigilante codenamed OSPAC (Onelga Security Peace and Advisory Committee) in Omudioga community in the Emohua Local Government Area of the state.
The court decreed that the convicts should be hanged or administered lethal injection until they are confirmed dead.
The convicts, Okechukwu Orji from the Atali community in Obio-Akpor; Igwe Promise, Iheanyi Igwe, Morrison Igwe, from Omudioga in Emohua LGA; and Goodness Monday from Akwa Ibom State, were found guilty of 10 counts of conspiracy, cultism, murder, and illegal possession of firearms.
The trial Judge, Justice Sika Aprioku, in his judgment, discharged and acquitted the sixth defendant in the suit, Alex Deiwe.
Justice Aprioku held that the prosecution counsel, Essien Edet, proved his case against the other five convicts on charges of conspiracy, cultism, illegal possession of firearms, and murder and, therefore, convicted and sentenced them to be hanged or administered lethal injection until they are confirmed dead.
The court also found that the convicts not only murdered the OSPAC commander of the Omudioga community but were also involved in kidnapping and other criminal activities in parts of the state before their arrest and commencement of prosecution.
Speaking to newsmen outside the courtroom, the prosecution counsel, Essien Edet, who is a legal officer at the Rivers State Police Command, expressed happiness over the judgment, which he described as justice well served. Edet further said it would serve as a deterrent to others who are involved in such crimes.
He stated, “I can say that justice has been served. It is a case of the murder of the former OSPAC Commander of the Omudioga community in Emuoha LGA. The case has been on for years. It was a case in which this OSPAC Commander was gruesomely murdered and dismembered by this group of criminals.
“Today, the court has finally given judgment on the matter, and I believe justice has been served. It is a lesson to all those who are going about committing heinous crimes, killing people, taking the lives of human beings as if such are not valuable that justice is also coming after them except they repent.”
PUNCH Metro reported that the former OSPAC commander was killed in 2021, beheaded, and other parts of his body dismembered by the cultists who saw him as a threat to their criminal activities in the area.

03 April 2024 :

Taraba state chief judge, Justice Joel Agya, on March 8, 2024, sentenced one Yusufa Adamu and Adamu Abdullahi to death by hanging for kidnapping Balkisu Kambe and Maryam Musa in Gashaka Local Government area of the State.
Agya, who delivered the judgment at the Taraba High Court 1 in Jalingo said the prosecution counsel has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the duo committed the crime in 2019.
He also found them guilty on the charges of criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms, and he sentenced each of them to 10 years without the option of a fine for each of the offences making it 20 years each.
The judge explained that the sentence on criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms would take effect from 2019 when they were arrested and detained.
According to him, the defendants had made confessional statements individually about the kidnapping of Balkisu Kambe at Angwan America in Baruwa on Sept 29, 2019, and that of Maryam Musa on Sept 2, 2019, at Serti and others in Gashaka Local Government area where they collected ransom.
He noted that one of the victims, Kambe identified the defendants as members of the gang that abducted her in her house when they could not find her husband in his room on that day, saying they unmasked themselves when they took her to the bush for two days before her husband sent them N1,000,000 ransom.

13 March 2024 :

The Ekiti State High Court has handed down a death sentence to 30-year-old Bello Abduquadri, convicted of armed robbery, Bnnbreaking reported on March 11, 2024. The court determined that Abduquadri's actions, involving the theft of a phone and motorcycle at gunpoint, merited the capital punishment.
The incident, which occurred on March 22, 2022, saw Abduquadri and accomplices, now at large, attack Owolabi Taiwo and his brother.
Armed with guns and cutlasses, they threatened the lives of their victims before making off with a phone and a Jincheng Lady Motorcycle.
The subsequent investigation led to Abduquadri's arrest after the victim received a call from Iyara Police Station in Kogi State, directing him to present proof of ownership for the stolen items.
During the trial, the prosecutor, Adeola Johnson, presented three witnesses and submitted several pieces of evidence, including the defendant's statements, motorcycle particulars, and a search warrant.
Despite the defense's plea for mercy, Justice Olalekan Olatawura found Abduquadri guilty of both conspiracy and armed robbery.
The judge sentenced him to seven years in prison for conspiracy and decreed the death penalty for the armed robbery charge.

06 February 2024 :

The Kano State High Court on January 25, 2024 sentenced five vigilante members to death by hanging for stabbing one Ahmed Musa,17, to death.
The convicts, Korau Sani, Elisha Ayuba, Irimiya Timothy, Auwalu Jafar, and Mustafa Haladu, attached to the Sani Abacha Youth Centre, were convicted on a two-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide.
Delivering judgment, the chief judge of Kano State, Justice Dije Abdu-Aboki, held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The prosecution counsel, Lamido Sorondinki, informed the court that the defendants committed the offence on January 22, 2022, in Sabon Titi Panshekara, Kano.
Mr Sorondinki said that on the same date, at about 10:00 a.m., the defendants conspired and attacked the deceased (Mr Musa) while he was crossing Sabon Titi Panshekara Road.
“The defendants came out of a tricycle and started beating the deceased with a long wooden hard stick (Gora), and in the process, the deceased held the stick.
“In the process, the first defendant used a long sharp knife and stabbed the deceased on his neck and dragged him on the ground and put him in the said tricycle and took him away.
Earlier in their testimonies, the defendants claimed that they approached the deceased to arrest him because of some complaint lodged against him, but he resisted.

04 March 2024 :

Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe of a Special Offences Court, Ikeja, on January 31, 2024 convicted and sentenced a man, Emmanuel Iwuno, to death by hanging for armed robbery.
Iwuno was also sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for conspiracy to commit robbery, after the court found him guilty as charged. He was arraigned on a two count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery.
The prosecution said his offences were contrary to the provision of Sections 299 and 297(2) (a) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015.
While delivering judgment, the court held that the prosecution proved the case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge also upheld the testimony of Prosecution Witness (PW1) and victim of the robbery, Obinna Mbah, who told the court that on March 8, 2020, he was approached by four men who robbed him of his car, along Thomas Onyemachi Street, Afromedia Junction, Okokomaiko. Mbah had told the court that one of the men, covering his face with a mask, forced him to lie down on the ground, threatened him with a gun, and took his Infinix phone and money while the other robbers drove away in his car.
The witness said he boarded a motorcycle and gave a hot chase, alongside other motorcyclists. Abike-Fadipe held that Mbah appeared truthful and that both his oral evidence and written statement to the police sustained the elements of his story. During the trial, the convict denied writing a statement and thumb printing on it. He told the court that the police arrested him while he was at a tea shop at the area of the robbery because he wore similar clothes as the suspect.
However, the judge questioned why he did not call either his wife or the tea vendor as witnesses. Abike-Fadipe held that while there is no obligation on the convict to produce evidence to prove he is not guilty of the crime, Iwuno had a strong case against him, thus he needed to make a case to defend himself.
Earlier, the prosecution, led by Adebanke Ogunode, had told the court that cartridges, including a locally made cut-to-size single-barreled pistol, were found in the car after it crashed.

22 January 2024 :

A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on January 18, 2024 sentenced to death three men on charges of kidnapping and murder.
Although four suspects were arraigned in court for the kidnap of late Chief Abbot Ogbobula in June 2017, only three were convicted.
The fourth suspect was discharged and acquitted.
The three men identified as Boma Thompson, Emelike Mathias, and Daniel Thankgod, were convicted on four charges of conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping, conspiracy to murder, and murder of late Chief Abbot Ogbobula.
In June 2017, late Chief Ogbobula was kidnapped in Ahoada and taken to Manikin Bush in Degema LGA where he was held hostage and eventually died.
He was buried in a shallow grave in the said bush but his body was later exhumed in the course of a police investigation of the case.
In respect of count one (conspiracy to kidnap), the 1st, 2nd and 4th defendants were convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment with no option of fine.
For count two ((kidnapping of Late Chief Abbot Ogbobula), the 1st, 2nd and 4th defendants were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.
In count three (conspiracy to murder Late Chief Abbot Ogbobula) the 1st, 2nd and 4th defendants were convicted and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with no option of fine.
While for count four (murder of Chief Abbot Ogbobula), the 1st,2nd and 4th defendants were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging or by lethal injection.

12 January 2024 :

A Niger state High Court has convicted and sentenced to death by hanging a man, Tunde Tayo, for the murder of Abdullahi Janiya Yahaya in Maitumbi area of Minna, Niger state in 2019. 
Presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Mohammed, handed down the death sentence on January 10, 2024 in a judgement delivered for over two hours.
Reviewing the case, Justice Mohammed Mohammed held that the circumstantial evidence against the accused by the prosecutor was strong, cogent and direct.
The convict, according to the Judge, was arraigned on two count charges of robbery and culpable homicide under sections 298 and 221 of the penal code. 
Tayo and his friends now at large were accused of cutting off the head the deceased and burying the body in a shallow grave inside an uncompleted building in Maitumbi area of Minna on 13th of September 2019.
According to the judge, the convict admitted in his statement to the police that he owns the uncompleted building, adding that, “Although he denied killing the deceased, circumstantial evidence established that he was last seen with the deceased and that he committed the crime.” 
Justice Mohammed said, “On the charge of robbery on section 298 of penal code, you are sentenced to life imprisonment. On the second count charge of culpable homicide under section 221 of the penal code law you Tunde Tayo is hereby convicted and sentenced to death by hanging until you die. May Almighty God have mercy on your soul.”