By Jako,July 25, 2025.
A Taraba State High Court sitting in Jalingo has sentenced four men to life imprisonment for orchestrating a staged kidnapping plot aimed at extorting ransom from the families of two young women.
Justice Agya, delivering judgment in case number TRSJ/75C/2021, found the convicts—Prosper Paul, Samuel David, Nosiu Buba, and Samuel Kelvin—guilty of attempted kidnapping, contrary to Sections 4 and 5 of the Taraba State Kidnapping and Abduction (Prohibition) Law of 2019 (as amended).
The case, instituted by the Taraba State Government in November 2021, centered on a fake abduction scheme masterminded by Prosper Paul. According to the court, Paul conspired with two young women, Miss Fyafyatirmam Andeterang (his girlfriend) and Miss Brenda Anthony, to simulate their own kidnapping in order to collect ransom money from their unsuspecting families.
The plot saw Fyafyatirmam’s relatives pay N4 million, while Brenda’s family was pressured with a N10 million ransom demand. The women, who later testified in court, confessed to willingly participating in the scheme alongside Paul.
The court handed Prosper Paul an additional 12-month prison sentence for criminal conspiracy, without the option of a fine. His co-defendants—David, Buba, and Kelvin—were acquitted of conspiracy but convicted for aiding and abetting the crime, each receiving life sentences.
Evidence presented by the prosecution included testimonies from six witnesses and phone tracking records that led to the arrest of the convicts at Jaudi Hotel in Jalingo during the ransom negotiation.
In his ruling, Justice Agya emphasized that although the victims were not physically abducted, the act met the legal threshold for attempted kidnapping, as it was designed to obtain money fraudulently under false pretenses.
He decried the increasing trend of young women colluding with romantic partners to stage kidnappings as a means of extortion, describing it as a "dangerous and growing social menace."
Defence counsel for Prosper Paul, Barrister Mahanan Luka, pleaded for leniency, citing Paul's involvement in prison chaplaincy activities and signaled an intention to appeal the ruling. Similarly, Barr. Dahiru Modibbo Esq, counsel to the other defendants, said he would review the judgment before determining the next legal steps.
Reacting to the verdict, Barr. Mustapha Adam, Deputy Director of Citizens’ Rights at the Taraba State Ministry of Justice, hailed the judgment as a “landmark decision” that strengthens the enforcement of anti-kidnapping laws and sends a strong warning to would-be offenders.
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