A high Court of justice in Adamawa State on Thursday October 22, 2026, sentenced three persons to death for kidnapping two Catholic priests sometime in February, 2025.
While delivering judgment, Justice Christopher Mapeo, found the three suspects guilty of criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, harbouring a kidnapped person and negotiating to receive ransom for the release of Rev. Frs. Matthew Dutsemi and Abraham Sauman.
The Judge sentenced the three men, Taledo Demiel, Namomai Medan and Mikaila Yusuf, to death for kidnapping, armed robbery and other offences.
Thursday’s death sentence is the seventh of such convictions secured by the Department of State Services (DSS) this year, with nine convicts recorded in this report.
On May 20, 2026, an Ekiti State High Court sentenced two men, Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar, to death by hanging for kidnapping.
About two weeks later, on June 3, 2026, a Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced four men to death by hanging for their roles in the June 2022 massacre of scores of worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
The convicts were identified as Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Alqasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik and Abdulkareem Idris.
Less than two weeks later, on June 15, 2026, a Katsina State High Court sentenced a female arms courier, Hauwa’u Mukhtar, to death by hanging.
The following day, June 16, 2026, a Kogi State High Court sentenced Jibrin Halilu to death by hanging for kidnapping and murdering his neighbour in Obajana, an industrial town in the state.
About a week after the Kogi sentencing, on June 22, 2026, a Sokoto State High Court sentenced three persons, Muhammed Yusuf Sallau, Jabbi Ahlaji Yale and Kabiru Muhammed to death by hanging for terrorism and transporting arms.
Less than three months later, on September 28, 2026, a Sokoto State High Court sentenced Ibrahim Usman, also known as Dan Iyali, to death by hanging over his involvement in the killing of three kidnapped persons in the state.
