Court Discharges 3 Men Falsely Charged for Kidnapping by Adamawa Police

A High Court Number VIII sitting in Yola, Adamawa state on Wednesday, discharged and acquitted 3 persons of alleged criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and abatement. News Platform 

The court presided by Hon. Justice Benjamin Lawan Manji, discharged and acquitted the defendants including Dauda Hayatu, Adamu Usman and Yahaya Manu for failure of the prosecution to prove its case.

The prosecution alleged that the trio and others (now at large) stormed the residence of Aliyu Alhaji Gidado, at Wuro-Mallam in Ribadu ward, Fufore LGA, on the 19th October, 2023 and abducted him.

According to the prosecution, the defendants demanded the ransom of N3million which the said ransom was delivered to them by Iliya Usman and Bobboi Hammanyaji in Gurin ward Fufore LGA before his release.

When the charge was read to Hayatu and 2 others on the 3rd July, 2025, they all pleaded not guilty to each of the 3 counts of "criminal conspiracy and kidnapping and abatement"

During trial, the prosecution called 5 witnesses who testified as PW1 to PW5 with extra judicial confessional statements of all the defendants tendered in the process while each of the defendants testified for himself in defence of the criminal allegations against and closed their cases.

In his judgement, the trial judge discharged and acquitted the defendants, saying that the prosecution woefully failed to present any evidence to warrant the conviction of the defendants in the case, and that each of the defendants is discharged and acquitted of each of the charges against them respectively.

He stated that in his evidence before the court, PW4, who was supposed to be the arresting officer clearly does not know how or when the defendants were arrested, neither does he even know the circumstances that led to arrest of the defendants. 

Justice Benjamin Lawan Manji added that the evidence in chief of the PW4 started and ended with allegations that the defendants confessed to him, declaring that beyond the alleged confession of the defendants, PW4 had nothing else to tell the court in his evidence

He held that there was not even a single sentence in the evidence of PW4 that described any step he took to investigate the case. 

He stated that in the same vein, PW5 also gave evidence of only the confession of the defendants, and that outside of the confession, there was nothing useful contained in the evidence of PW5 before the court.

According to him, all that the IPOs did was to come and inform the court that they recorded the statements of the defendants and repeated what they claimed that the defendants told them as recorded in the extrajudicial statements.

Justice Benjamin Lawan Manji said "I do not think that this is what proper investigation entails. I do believe that the police can do better than what they have done in this case".

"The conduct of the police in this case leaves much to be desired. When a serious crime is reported to the police, what is expected of them is to take it seriously by diligently investigating same. I urge the police and the prosecution to do better next time.

"On the final note, kidnapping is a terrible and serious crime which no sane society should tolerate; the police as the primary organisation charged with prevention, investigation and prosecution of crimes as well as maintenance of law and order ought to be seen to be serious in the discharge of their duties to the Nigerian public.

"Finally, there was evidence that the phone of the 2nd defendant is in possession of the PW5, ASP Malle Alaku. Therefore, I hereby order ASP Malle Alaku, to release the 2nd defendant's phone to him forthwith", he ordered.

In their separate reactions, Counsels to the prosecution and that of the defendants respectively, A. S. Mamza Esq and A. I. Yahaya Esq, appreciated the court for the judgement.