Police charge man with kidnapping and murder in Abuja

The Nigerian police, on Thursday, charged a 23-year-old man, Ibrahim Aboubakar, for allegedly kidnapping and killing a cleric, Nicholas Alfa, and another man, Elijah Nweke, in Abuja.

Mr Aboubakar appeared before trial judge Salim Ibrahim of the Federal High Court in Abuja on six counts. These include illegal possession of firearms and hostage-taking that led to the death of the victims.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Aboubakar and another man, Abubakar Shuaibu, were both named as defendants. However, Mr Shuaibu’s name was later removed from the case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/618/2026.

Prosecution lawyer Dabo Yakubu asked the court to take Mr Shuaibu’s name out as a defendant. Defence lawyer Enyisal Lawrence did not oppose this request.

Once the case started, Mr Yakubu, a lawyer from the Inspector General of the Police Special Tactical Squad, told the court he had an application based on Section 216 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015. He explained that Mr Shuaibu, who was the first defendant, died at Asokoro General Hospital from an undisclosed illness.

The lawyer asked that the deceased’s name be removed from the charge so that Mr Aboubakar could enter his plea. Judge Ibrahim then struck out Mr Shuaibu’s name from the case.

After the charges were read to Mr Aboubakar, he pleaded not guilty. The prosecution then asked for a trial date, and the judge set the matter for November 26 at 11 a.m. for the start of the trial.

The police claimed that on May 16 in Gbagalape, Nyanya, Mr Shuaibu, 22, Mr Aboubakar, 23, and others who are still at large, armed themselves with guns and other dangerous weapons. They allegedly conspired to kidnap Mr Nweke and Mr Alfa for ransom.

They were also accused of taking the victims to the Gbagalape Forest, where they negotiated with their families for an N8 million ransom. The police stated that this offence is punishable under sections of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.