The Yobe State High Court in Potiskum has sentenced Corporal John Gabriel, a dismissed soldier, to death by hanging for the murder of an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Goni Aisami.
The court also sentenced Corporal Adam Gideon, an accomplice to the murder, to 10 years in prison.
Aisami, a popular Gashua-based Islamic scholar, was killed on August 22, 2022, in Karasuwa Local Government Area of Yobe State, by Gideon, who took a free ride while he was en route from Kano to Gashua.
The Nigerian Army dismissed the two soldiers after a commission of inquiry set up jointly with the police found them guilty of murder.
Sentencing Judge Usman Zanna Mohammed found Gabriel and Gideon, both of service number N/A13/69/6522, attached to the 241 Reconnaissance Battalion in Nguru, guilty of murder and conspiracy, respectively.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Mohammed said that after careful consideration of the facts presented before the court, he sentenced the defendants in accordance with the provisions of the law because they failed to produce any material witnesses to support their claims.
Asked if he had any objection, Gabriel confessed to the murder of a well-known Muslim cleric.
The Yobe State government, through the Ministry of Justice, prosecuted the two men.
