The Chief Judge of Taraba State, Justice Joel Agya, on Friday sentenced two men, Yusufa Adamu and Adamu Abdullahi to death by hanging for kidnapping in the state.
The convicts were arraigned by the police for kidnapping the duo of Balkisu Kambe and Maryam Musa in the Gashaka local government area of the state in 2019.
The prosecution counsel, Samson Gimba, had told the court that Musa was kidnapped on September 2, 2019, at Serti while Kambe was kidnapped at Angwan America in Baruwa on September 29 of the same year.
In his judgement in Jalingo, the judge said the prosecution had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
He also convicted the two men for criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms and sentenced each to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine.
The judge said the sentence on criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms would take effect from 2019 when they were arrested and detained.
He said: “Based on Section 3, Paragraph 8 of the Kidnapping and Abduction Law of Taraba 2019, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging. May God have mercy on your souls.
“You, however, have the right to apply to the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy for the sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment, especially since no life was lost in the process of kidnapping.”