On Friday, a Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja found two of the four defendants guilty and sentenced them to 20 years in prison each. They were accused of abducting Mike Ozekhome, SAN.
In a ruling, Justice Binta Nyako stated that the prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt the charges brought against first and second defendants Kelvin Ezeigbe and Frank Azuekor.
According to Justice Nyako, the sentence will begin to serve them on the day of their arrest.
But the judge exonerated and dismissed
The third and fourth defendants on the counts brought against them in the terrorist indictment were Michael Omonigho and Momoh Haruna.
Despite the fact that some of the charges against Ezeigbe and Azuekor had sentences that might have included the death penalty, life in prison, or at least 10 years in prison, she maintained that she had discovered that the defendants had expressed regret for their illegal behaviour.
She added that she had discovered that they had been detained for almost ten years following their arrest.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Haruna was not present in court however Omonigho, who was reportedly the chief priest, was.
The top priest said, “I have repented my lord,” in response to Nyako’s caution to Omonigho to exercise caution as people worship in his shrine in the open court.
Even though Haruna was cleared of the charges against him, the judge ordered that he be brought to court to answer for his fault of escaping from legal custody.
The defence attorney Bala Dakum and the prosecution attorney Chioma Onuegbu received praise from the judge for their diligent work during the trial.
According to NAN, the defendants, Kelvin Ezeigbe, Frank Azuekor, Michael Omonigho, and Momoh Haruna, were initially charged with 13 counts of conspiracy, armed robbery, kidnapping, and acts of terrorism before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of an FHC on June 9, 2014.
Haruna was reported missing after the terrorist attack on Kuje Correctional Centre on July 5, 2022, when the three defendants were in court.
They were charged with engaging in terrorist acts in violation of Sections 1, 8, and 10 of the 2011 Terrorism Prevention Act.
On August 23, 2013, they are accused of abducting Mr. Ozekhome at Iruekpen as he was en route to Iviukwe in Agenebode, Edo.
Before being released, Ozekhome was held captive for almost three weeks. His release was purportedly contingent upon the payment of a N28 million ransom.
Additionally, they were charged with killing five police officers and two jail guards in addition to kidnapping the Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, Attanasius Ugbome, and their friend, Emmanuel Maka Omorogbe.
Eghagha was accused of being forced to pay N7 million, Ugbome N20 million, and Omorogbe N3.5 million by the defendants.
Paul Ajaka, Sunday Ewanshiha, Michael Akpada, Bakary Ekong, and Innocent Odoh were the five reported dead police officers.
They allegedly also murdered prison guards Lawrence Edora and Oyibo Okoye and stole their service firearms.
The bail request made on behalf of the four suspects by their attorney, Bala Dakum, was rejected.
Omonigho and Haruna were detained at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja, and Ezeigbe and Azuekor had been detained at the Department of State Service (DSS) facility.
