Kogi and Katsina Courts Deliver Death Sentences as DSS Secures String of Major Convictions in Nationwide Crackdown
(The Suspects. Photo by Vangurd News)
Barely 24 hours after a Katsina State High Court handed a d£ath sentence to a female arms courier arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS, a High Court in Kogi State has similarly imposed the d£ath penalty on a man successfully prosecuted by the DSS for kidn@pping and the mur+er of his neighbour, who operated a hotel in Obajana.
The Katsina and Kogi sentences came less than two weeks after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja handed down d£ath sentences to four men arrested by the DSS over their involvement in the June 5, 2022, terr0rist att@ck on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
The Kogi court, presided over by Justice Abdul Nicodemus Awulu, on Tuesday found Jibrin Halilu guilty of conspiracy and kidn@pping under relevant sections of the Kogi State Kidn@pping and Other Related Offences Prohibition Law, 2023, and subsequently sentenced him to d£ath.
According to the prosecution, Halilu and members of his armed gang stormed Everready Hotel in Angwa-Tiv, Obajana town, on March 23, 2023, where they abducted the hotel’s proprietor, Uche Andrew Offo. Despite Offo’s family paying the ₦2.5 million ransom demanded by his abductors, he was still kill£d.
The DSS prosecutor told the court that operatives of the Service arrested Halilu on December 4, 2025.
A security source disclosed that investigations revealed Offo had identified Halilu, his neighbour, as one of those involved in his abduction while he was held captive, noting that this revelation did not stop Halilu from kill!ng him despite collecting the ransom.
Further investigations reportedly linked Halilu and his gang to another kidn@pping incident on April 2, 2023, involving one Ibrahim Abdullahi, a resident of Oshokoshoko Community in Lokoja, from whom the gang collected a ₦5 million ransom.
These convictions and sentencings in Kogi and Katsina follow closely on the heels of a landmark June 3, 2026, ruling by a Federal High Court in Abuja, which sentenced four men, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, and Abdulhaleem Idris, to d£ath by hanging over their roles in the att@ck on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, an incident that claimed the lives of over 40 worshippers and left more than 100 others injured.
A security source described the string of convictions as a significant run of courtroom victories for the DSS, reinforcing the message that individuals involved in terr0rism, kidn@pping, and armed violence would not only be apprehended but prosecuted and made to face the full consequences of their actions.