SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, (THEWILL) –Six suspects have been arraigned before the Federal High Court, Abuja over last year’s abduction of Alhaji Abu Dankure, a Sokoto-based businessman and a friend of the state governor, Aliyu Wammako.
Dankure , 70, died 11 days after he was released by his abductors after paying $300,000 out of the N1bn demanded as ransom.
The suspects, Mustapha Isah, 31 (aka Ali Habibu), Mohammed Bukar (31), Faruku Waziri, 27 (aka Umar Abubakar), Usman Iddah, 31 (aka Ele Atuluku), Mohammed Bello Magaji (aka Ruwa) and Zailani Tukur (52), were arraigned by the Federal Government on a five-count charge.
In the case filed against the suspects, the accused were said to have kidnapped Dankure along the Western By-pass in Sokoto on November 6 few days after he returned from a medical trip abroad.
The Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Akin Akintewe said the accused, who have made confessional statements, had planned to kidnap the “father of the owners of Rahamaniyya Petroleum based in Sokoto until they later settled for the victim whom they believe was wealthier and they could get more money.”
The suspects were said to have collected the $300,000 ransom money from one of the victim’s children at Kwali Village of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and were said to have later lodged in a hotel in Benin, Edo State, where the ransom was shared .
But they ran out of luck as they were subsequently arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), who allegedly recovered from them, one AK47 rifle, Russian made pump action rifle, two Ak47 rifle magazines, 26 live cartridges for pump action and 39 rounds of AK47 rifle ammunition.
However, their arraignment, before Justice Adeniyi Ademola, on the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/117/2014 was stalled because two of the accused persons could not procure the services of a lawyer.
Prosecution lawyer, Magaji Labaran, agreed with the judge’s suggestion that the arraignment be rescheduled to a later date to enable the two accused hire lawyers of their choice as Justice Ademola adjourned to September 26.
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