Lekan Akinsoji, a UK-based Nigerian, and Sundjata Keita of St Margaret’s Court have been sentenced to life in prison for murdering Ahmed Deen-Jah in East London in 2017.

The duo, who were convicted of murder on October 9, were sentenced on Friday at Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales.

“Lekan Akinsoji, 27, of no fixed address, and Sundjata Keita, 27, of St Margaret’s Court, E12, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday, 24 October. They both received life sentences,” UK police announced in a statement on Friday.

The police said, “Mr Akinsoji was jailed for a minimum term of 28 years, while Keita received a minimum term of 22 years.”

Kelly Allen, the detective superintendent who led the investigation, said, “I hope the long sentences provide some measure of closure to Ahmed’s family, who have waited almost a decade for justice.”

He added, “Akinsoji and Keita launched a cold-blooded and unprovoked attack. Worse still, they then sought to evade the law—and were able to do so until 2023, when damning forensic evidence came to light.”

The sentencing of the duo on Friday brings to a close a murder investigation launched on April 2, 2017, after Mr Deen-Jah was stabbed during an unprovoked assault in a convenience store near Custom House station in Newham.

Messers Akinsoji and Keita were first arrested after police investigations identified them as suspects in the 2017 murder. But they were later released due to insufficient evidence, as officers continued complex inquiries.

According to the police, in 2023, an investigation review was carried out, which included a detailed phone analysis, placing Mr Keita’s phone inside the car used for the murder. The car had travelled to Epping Forest following the murder, where it was later found on fire.

During investigations, “the court heard how Ahmed’s murder was a result of ‘tit for tat’ violence between gangs and that both men had been driving around the area in a stolen car, looking for people they suspected of being in a rival gang,” the police said.

It added, “CCTV played in court showed Akinsoji ambushing Ahmed and following him into the shop before stabbing him.”