DSS secures death sentence for kidnap-suspect in Sokoto

The Department of State Services (DSS) has secured the conviction and death sentence of Ibrahim Usman, also known as Dan Iyali, over his involvement in the kidnapping and killing of three persons in Sokoto State in September 2023.

Usman was tried on a four-count charge before the Sokoto High Court, alongside other suspects who are at large. The charges bordered on criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, culpable homicide punishable by death and causing grievous hurt without provocation.

Delivering judgment, Justice Mohammed Mohammed of the Sokoto High Court held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced Usman to life imprisonment for kidnapping and death by hanging for culpable homicide.

Usman and his accomplices had invaded Bare Village in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State on September 9, 2023, while armed with guns, shooting sporadically and kidnapping several residents, including Ahmad Alhassan, Umar Usman, Adamu Haliru (Naibi), Alhaji Sule Muhammad and Abdulmalik Muazu.

The prosecution established that the victims were taken to Marmaro Forest in Giayawa District, where Usman shot three of them, identified as Alhaji Shuaibu Isah (Sarkin Ruwa), Umar Usman and Adamu Haliru (Naibi), resulting in their deaths.

The suspects also shot Ahmad Alhassan in the neck and Abdulmalik Muazu in the groin before abandoning them in the forest. They were rescued by members of a vigilante group.

Sources said Usman was arrested at Bare Village, Goronyo Local Government Aera in May 2024, and arraigned for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and culpable homicide under relevant provisions of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law 2019.

The source said the conviction was part of the DSS’s ongoing efforts to investigate and prosecute individuals allegedly involved in kidnapping, terrorism-related violence and other serious security offences across the country.