RismadarVoice Reporters, June 17, 2026
A High Court in Kogi State has sentenced Jibrin Halilu to death after convicting him of conspiracy and kidnapping in the abduction and killing of a hotel proprietor in Obajana.
The ruling comes less than 24 hours after a Katsina State court handed a death sentence to a woman convicted of arms trafficking, and follows a recent Federal High Court judgment in Abuja convicting four men over the 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Abdul Nicodemus Awulu ruled that the prosecution had proved its case against Halilu under Sections 12, 6(1) and 4(3)(a) of the Kogi State Kidnapping and Other Related Offences Prohibition Law, 2023, and sentenced him to death accordingly.
According to court proceedings, the case stemmed from the March 23, 2023 abduction of Uche Andrew Offo, proprietor of Everready Hotel in Angwa-Tiv, Obajana. Prosecutors said an armed gang seized Offo and his family later paid a ransom, but he was killed regardless.
Halilu was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on December 4, 2025, following investigations into the killing. Prosecutors also linked him to a separate kidnapping in April 2023 involving a resident of the Oshokoshoko community in Lokoja.
In the Abuja case, the Federal High Court convicted and sentenced four men for their roles in the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, which killed and injured multiple worshippers.
