The Ado Ekiti Division of the Ekiti State High Court on Thursday jailed two graduates for 30 years for abducting Atana Emmanuel, an undergraduate of the Federal University of Oye Ekiti.

The convicts and fresh graduates, Ojo Babajide, 31, and Olajide Nathaniel, 35, were sentenced for the offences committed on March 23, 2022, in Oye Ekiti.

Messrs Babajide and Nathaniel were dragged to court on July 19, 2022, for conspiracy and kidnapping by the police.

Their offences contravened sections 280 and 279 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021.

The two men, whose offences are to run for 15 years each, are to spend 10 years each in prison for kidnapping and five years each for conspiracy.

Kunle-Shina Adeyemo, the prosecutor in the case, called a witness and tendered the victims’ statements and bond to release as exhibits.

Mr Adeyemo said the victim, also a hair stylist, was kidnapped at her shop around 7:00 p.m. on the day and ordered into a waiting car, noting that she initially refused but was forced to do the bidding of her abductors.

“I was first taken to an unknown destination in Oye Ekiti, and I later found myself in a hotel along Ikere Road in Ado Ekiti. They made me pay for lodging in the hotel room through mobile transfer.

“They asked me to call my relatives to pay a ransom of one million naira for my release. Through phone calls, I was able to raise N101,000.

“When they knew the money was not forthcoming, they ordered me to remove all my clothes, and they flogged me with a horsewhip. I sustained serious bruises all over my body before I was later released,” Ms Emmanuel was quoted by the police.

However, the counsel to the two defendants, Akinola Abon, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy because they were fresh graduates preparing for their National Youth Service Corps. He called three witnesses.

In his verdict, Justice Adeniyi Familoni found the defendants guilty.

“In this vein, they deserve more than a slap on the wrist as the penal sanction for their misdeed to serve as a deterrent to others.

“Consequently, they are both sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy and 10 years’ imprisonment each for kidnapping without answering option of fine,” he said.

Mr Adeniyi said the jail terms are to run concurrently with effect from May 21, 2025.