Sokoto Court Sentences Three CJTF Members To Death By Hanging

The Sokoto State High Court has sentenced three members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) to demise by hanging after convicting them of prison conspiracy, armed theft and culpable murder.

The convicts are Gaji Hassan, Abdullahi Goni Gudusu and Modu Bukar.

In a judgment delivered on Thursday in Suit No. SS/78C/2026, The State vs Gaji Hassan and a pair of Others, Justice Kabiru Muhammad discovered the defendants responsible on all three counts.

According to an announcement issued by the court docket’s Public Relations Officer, Nakwanta Muhammad Garba, the incident occurred on September 19, 2024, at about 4:30 p.m. in Kagara village, Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

The court docket heard that the convicts, who have been armed with rifles, stopped Babangida Nasiru and a feminine companion earlier than taking them into the bush.

They allegedly collected ₦260,000 from Nasiru and held him of their custody. He was later discovered lifeless with gunshot wounds to his chest and neck.

The prosecution referred to as two witnesses throughout the trial, whereas the choose described the surviving eyewitness’s testimony as credible and unshaken.

The court docket rejected the defendants’ declare that they’d launched the deceased, holding that they failed to elucidate his demise beneath the authorized precept of “last seen.”

Justice Muhammad additionally dominated that the defendants’ confessional statements have been voluntary and admissible, noting that their allegations of torture weren’t corroborated.

The choose held that the surviving eyewitness’s testimony alone was ample to determine their guilt.

Citing the necessary punishment prescribed beneath the Sokoto State Penal Code Law, 2019, the court docket sentenced every of the three convicts to demise by hanging.

However, Justice Muhammad knowledgeable them of their proper to attraction the judgment on the Court of Appeal inside 90 days.