A Taraba State High Court sitting in Jalingo, the state capital, on Friday sentenced four men to life imprisonment for attempted kidnapping.

The convicts, Prosper Paul, Samuel David, Nosiu Buba, and Samuel Kelvin, were found guilty in case number TRSJ/75C/2021, which was filed by the state government in November 2021.

The court found that the first defendant, Prosper Paul, orchestrated a fake kidnapping scheme involving his girlfriend and another young woman to extort millions in ransom from their families.

In his judgment, Justice Agya ruled that their actions violated sections 4 and 5 of the Taraba State Kidnapping and Abduction Prohibition Law of 2019 (as amended), which imposes stringent penalties on offenders.

The first defendant, Prosper Paul, was additionally sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine for criminal conspiracy.

The other three defendants were discharged of the conspiracy charge but received life sentences for their role in the attempted kidnapping.

The prosecution presented six witnesses to establish the case beyond reasonable doubt, including testimonies from the victims themselves, Miss Fyafyatirmam Andeteran and Miss Brenda Anthony, who admitted to cooperating with Paul in staging the kidnappings.

The court heard that Fyafyatirmam’s family paid N4 million in ransom, while a demand of N10 million was made in Brenda’s case. Investigations revealed that Paul and Brenda lodged at Jaudi Hotel in Nukkai, Jalingo, for four days while negotiating the ransom, until they were tracked and arrested through their mobile phone records.

Justice Agya noted that while the victims were not forcibly taken, the attempt to extort money through staged abduction amounted to attempted kidnapping, punishable under the law. The other three defendants were found to have aided and abetted the crime, qualifying them for the same penalty under Section 5 of the Principal Law.