A Federal High Court in Ibadan on Thursday sentenced one Buba Tambaya to a total of 16 years in prison for collecting N1.5 million ransom from an innocent Nigerian.

Delivering judgment, Justice Ekerete Akpan, convicted and sentenced Tambaya after Department of State Services (DSS) had tendered overwhelming evidence against him.

Akpan said that he would have applied the full wrath of the law against the convict but for his show of remorse and not wasting the time of the court.

“People must know that participating in crime does not pay because no matter how long, the arm of the law will surely catch up with criminals.

“To serve as deterrent to others, Tambaya is hereby sentenced to eight years imprisonment or an option of five million naira for count one and eight years imprisonment for count two.

“However, sentencing shall run concurrently from the date you were first arrested.

“The N1,178,500 recovered from the convict shall be restituted to the victim,” the judge held.

Earlier, the DSS prosecution from Oyo State Command, Mr T.A. Nurudeen, had said that the 22-year-old convict was arraigned on a two-count charge, bordering on threatening to kidnap and demand for ransom.

Nurudeen said that Tambaya committed the crime between May 6 and May 11 in Iseyin, Iseyin Local Government Area of Oyo State.

He said that the convict called his victim, Mohammed Mumini, on a mobile phone, threatening to kidnap him if he did not pay a N5 million naira ransom.

Nurudeen further said that Mumini was so frightened that he negotiated the ransom which was eventually reduced to N1.5 million.

He said that the convict ordered Mumini to drop the ransom under a mango tree in a farm.

The prosecutor stated that the victim later contacted security operatives, including local vigilante, who hid nearby to apprehend Tambaya.

He, however, said that the ransom scattered about while Tambaya was trying to escape and that only N1,178,500 was recovered from the scene.

The prosecutor said that the offences contravened the provisions of Sections 24(1) and (2) of Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022. (NAN)