A High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, has sentenced a man arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS), Jibrin Halilu, to death for kidnapping and murdering his neighbour after collecting a ransom from the victim’s family.

The judgment came barely 24 hours after a Katsina State High Court sentenced a female arms courier arrested by the DSS to death, in what observers describe as a series of major courtroom victories for the nation’s domestic intelligence agency.

The Kogi and Katsina verdicts also followed the June 3, 2026 judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which sentenced four terrorists to death by hanging for their roles in the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Abdul Nicodemus Awulu found Halilu guilty of conspiracy and kidnapping contrary to Sections 12, 6(1) and 4(3)(a) of the Kogi State Kidnapping and Other Related Offences Prohibition Law, 2023.

The court subsequently imposed the maximum penalty of death on the convict.
According to the prosecution, Halilu and members of his gang invaded Everready Hotel in the Angwa-Tiv area of Obajana on March 23, 2023, abducting its proprietor, Uche Andrew Offo.

Despite receiving a ransom of N2.5 million from the victim’s family, the kidnappers allegedly murdered Offo in cold blood.

The court heard that DSS operatives arrested Halilu on December 4, 2025, following painstaking investigations that unravelled the circumstances surrounding the crime.

A source familiar with the investigation disclosed that while in captivity, Offo was able to identify Halilu, his neighbour, as one of the members of the gang that abducted him.

According to the source, the victim’s recognition of Halilu ultimately sealed his fate, as the suspect allegedly decided to eliminate him despite having already collected the ransom payment.

Further investigations reportedly linked Halilu and his gang to the abduction of one Ibrahim Abdullahi from Oshokoshoko Community in Lokoja on April 2, 2023. The gang was said to have collected N5 million in ransom before releasing the victim.

The conviction comes amid a growing list of successful prosecutions arising from DSS investigations.
In the June 3 Owo Church attack case, a Federal High Court sentenced Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al-Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik and Abdulhaleem Idris to death by hanging for their roles in the attack that killed more than 40 worshippers and left over 100 others injured.

Reacting to the latest conviction, a security source described the judgment as a strong signal that perpetrators of kidnapping, terrorism and other violent crimes would continue to face the full weight of the law.

“These convictions reinforce the message that criminals who engage in kidnapping, terrorism and armed violence will not escape justice. They will be identified, apprehended, prosecuted and punished in accordance with the law,” the source said.