Appeal Court Affirms Death Sentence on Three Young Men in Yola

Daji Sani in Yola

The Court of Appeal in Yola, Adamawa State, yesterday affirmed the death sentence passed by a lower court on three young men for killing Pastor Hammanjulde Dadon.

Justice Chidi Nwaoma Uwa of the Appeal Court, who affirmed the verdict of the lower court, also dismissed the appeal seeking to upturn the judgement of the lower court.

However, the former High Court Judge, Hon. Justice Abdul-Azeez Waziri, who is now an Appeal Court Judge, had convicted and sentenced the young men to death by hanging for killing the pastor over royalty.

Those slammed with the death sentence are Godwin Obidah, 25; Thomas Bitrus, 27, and Hananiya Ezra, 30, of Tashan Rake village in Yola South Local Government Area of the state.

The convicts, Obidah, a motorcyclist, while Thomas, a farmer, and Ezra, a labourer, were arraigned before the court where they pleaded not guilty to the two-count charges.

According to the charge, the convicts and one Dahiru Mohammed (still at large) agreed to use criminal means on anyone who refused to pay royalty relating to the use of plaster sand in their community.

In furtherance of their common intention and use of criminal force, the young men on March 23, 2017, attacked Hammajulde with sticks and cutlasses for refusing to pay them the royalty.

Likewise, in his confessional statement admitted in evidence, one of the convicts, Hananiya Ezra, narrated that Godwin Obidah, had on that fateful day asked him to accompany him to kill Hammajulde over royalty criminally placed by the convicts on the plaster sand in their community to siphon money forcefully from locals.

He stated that he agreed and armed himself with a stick while the second convict (Thomas Bitrus), who had a motorcycle, carried the first convict (Godwin Obidah) who also armed himself with a stick.

Ezra said he also saw one strange Fulani man, Dahiru Mohammed, who was recruited by Godwin Obidah for the operation armed with a cutlass and trekking towards the scene of the crime.

According to him, on their arrival, they saw the deceased behind a Primary School with a lot of people, and that upon approaching him, Obidah hit the cleric with the stick, and then the Fulani man rushed in with his cutlass and cut him.

He added that after killing him, they immediately fled the scene, but unknown to them that they were since identified by eyewitnesses, including the son of the pastor known as Babangida Hammajulde, who later reported the matter to police, which led to their arrest.

They were tried by the trial court and convicted after they were found guilty. The judgement of the lower court was affirmed yesterday by the appellate court in Yola. While Z. Y. Usman, appeared for the respondent, O. O. Oniyere, appeared for the appellants respectively.