A High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced a police corporal and a bus conductor to death by hanging for the 2015 kidnapping of a secondary school principal in Akwa Ibom State.
Justice Nsemeke Daniel of the Akwa Ibom State High Court found Corporal Mbazigwe Chinedu and Isaac Eddy Ndeesor guilty of abducting Elder Akara Johnson Mendie, a principal at Community Secondary School, Nkek, in Ukanafun Local Government Area.
The court heard that Mendie was kidnapped on July 5, 2015, at about 3:30pm while returning from church with his wife and family members along Urua Akpan Udosen/Ikot Una Road. Four armed men reportedly blocked their vehicle with a Toyota Camry and whisked him away to an unknown destination.
Testifying before the court, the victim’s wife recounted how the gunmen seized her husband and made away with her handbag containing vital documents, including a will, Power of Attorney papers, reading glasses and a mobile phone.
Mendie told the court that while in captivity, his abductors claimed that one of his brothers had paid them N50 million to eliminate him but offered to spare his life if he could raise N25 million. After days of negotiations, a ransom of N200,000 was eventually paid on July 10, 2015, through his younger sister.
The victim was later abandoned in Bori, Rivers State, where he reported at the Bori Police Station before being transported back to his community in Ukanafun.
The court also heard from the victim’s sister, who negotiated the ransom from Bayelsa State. She said the kidnappers repeatedly changed the meeting points for payment, moving from Bayelsa to Rumuokoro, a trailer park in Ogoni and finally a roundabout in Ikwerre, where three masked men on a motorcycle collected the money.
During the trial, the first defendant, a police corporal who joined the force in January 2007, admitted driving the Toyota Camry used to block the victim’s vehicle. He claimed he was contacted by an acquaintance identified as Felix, who allegedly introduced another suspect said to be acting on the orders of an unnamed “honourable.”
The officer confessed that after the Camry developed a fault, he travelled to Uyo to retrieve his Volkswagen Golf before returning to continue the operation, transporting the victim to a bush in Ogoni, Rivers State.
In his judgment, Justice Daniel condemned the decade-long trial, noting that the case, filed in 2016, was only concluded in 2026. He dismissed claims by the first defendant that he was framed, describing his defence as inconsistent and lacking substance.
Condemning the actions of the convicts, the judge questioned how a serving police officer could lead a kidnapping gang to abduct a man returning from church with his family.
“You shall be hanged by the neck until you be dead. May God have mercy on you,” the judge declared.