A Gombe State High Court has sentenced three men to death by hanging for the 2022 killing of Ibrahim Yahaya in Herwagana Quarters, Gombe Local Government Area.
Delivering the judgment on Wednesday, Justice Haruna Kereng of High Court 3 ruled that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt against Dauda Mohammed Abubakar (aka Agenda), Kabiru Abubakar (Gwarei), and Ibrahim Suleiman.
The convicts were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide for their involvement in a violent assault on April 22, 2022. During the incident, the men, armed with cutlasses, knives, and daggers, fatally attacked Yahaya and injured two other victims—Ahmed Abubakar and Muhammad Ahmed Lawan—at the Dawaki Quarters.
Justice Kereng described the evidence against the trio as “overwhelming and credible,” noting that all three acted in concert to commit the crime.
The defendants were initially arraigned on November 17, 2022. While the court convicted them on two charges—criminal conspiracy under Section 97 and culpable homicide punishable by death under Section 221 of the Penal Code—the third charge was dismissed.
Reading the mandatory sentence, the judge said, “Each and all of you shall be hanged by the neck until you are pronounced and certified dead by a medical practitioner.”
He added that Section 221 provides for a mandatory death penalty, leaving the court without the discretion to consider any plea for leniency. “The court is not empowered to reduce or alter the punishment. Therefore, I will not entertain any allocutus,” Justice Kereng said.
The ruling concluded nearly three years of legal proceedings following a crime that had shocked residents of Gombe metropolis.
