The Supreme Court, last weekend, on two separate judgements, upheld the judgements of lower courts which

convicted and sentenced Segun Ogunsanya and Joseph Awoshina to death.

A five-man panel constituted by Justices Alooma Mariam Mukhtar, Walter Samuel, Kanu Onnoghen, Francis Fedode Tabai, John Afolabi Fabiyi and Bode-Rhodes Vivour in its decision held in Ogunsanya’s case that they saw no conceivable reason to interfere with the decision and opinion of the court below.

They declared also that the appeal filed against the Court of Appeal, Abuja judgment that affirmed the conviction and sentencing of Amoshima to death is without merit and consequently dismissed.

Ogunsanya, whose trial commenced in July 30,2002, was accused of robbing one Alhaji Oshikoya Yinka of N51,000 at gunpoint at Igoya Imowo, near Ijebu- Ode, Ogun State, in the company of others said to be at large.

He was tried on a two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery at the Ijebu-Ode Judicial Division of the High Court which convicted and sentenced him to death.

On the other, Joseph Amoshima, Aminu Tanko and Ikechukwu Okoh were said to have robbed one Alhaji Zakari Mohammed of his video-playing machine and some amount of money on April 6,2006 with a knife, resulting in his death in his house at Kasuwan Dutse area of Suleja, Niger State.

The accused were said to have beaten up Zakari to death during the robbery operation. One of those who beat up the deceased known as Uche, was however summarily convicted during the Niger State Chief Judge’s prison decongestion exercise.

Uche was the 4th accused person in the original charge which involved eight persons.

Four out of the eight accused were discharged and acquitted while the remaining three were ordered to defend themselves.

However, only Amoshima appealed against the conviction and death sentence handed to the three.

Amoshima’s lawyer had argued that the Niger State attorney general had no power to initiate proceedings under the Robbery and Firearms Act without the consent of the Attorney General of the Federation.

In a lead judgement delivered by Justice Onnoghen, he said, "There is no specific provision of the said Act stating that a state Attorney General cannot do so or only the AGF can do so.

"This is a very busy court whose time ought not to be toyed with or wasted on issues which do no one any good.

"Having resolved all the issues canvassed before this court against the appellant,it is obvious that the appeal is without merit and is consequently dismissed by me.

"The judgements of the lower courts are hereby affirmed." In his judgement on June 22,2004, Justice M.A Ojo found

Ogunsanya guilty and consequently convicted and sentenced him to death.

The accused, not satisfied, proceeded to the Court of Appeal, where his conviction and death sentence were upheld.

In the lead judgement delivered by Justice Tabai at the apex court last Friday, it was held that the appeal ought to be dismissed and is accordingly dismissed.

The apex court noted that, "although Ogunsanya (the appellant) was at various times called upon to enter his defence, and whenever no counsel was available to conduct his defence, the court offered free legal aid to him, which he consequently rejected. Almost all the adjournements sought by the appellant to enable him secure the services of a counsel of his choice were granted but such counsel were never available for the defence.

The learned trial judge and the prosecuting counsel made every opportunity available to the accused for his defence but he failed to utilize the opportunities. He cannot therefore be heard to complain about denial of fair hearing".

One of the two-count charges stated that, "Segun Ogunsanya and others now at large, on July 14, 2001, at Igoya Imowo in the Ijebu-Ode Judicial Division, while armed with offensive weapons to wit; guns robbed one Alhaji Oshikoya Yinka of N51,000 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(2)(a) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions )Act, 1999".

http://www.champion.com.ng/displaycontent.asp?pid=9493

imagine what about the politicians they are celebrated shey.well such is life for a crime one wears a crown and another bears a cross,how ironic life could be

I wish they would sentence these corrupt politicians to death as well.

Just 51000 yet our politicians are stealing billions and nothing dey happen.

51k, Death Penalty ? Na wa o,

midep:

51k, Death Penalty ? Na wa o,

It was the death of a man during the robbery operation, and not the robbery itself that warranted the death penalty being invoked:

On the other, Joseph Amoshima, Aminu Tanko and Ikechukwu Okoh were said to have robbed one Alhaji Zakari Mohammed of his video-playing machine and some amount of money on April 6,2006 with a knife, resulting in his death in his house at Kasuwan Dutse area of Suleja, Niger State.

dapachez:

imagine what about the politicians they are celebrated shey.well such is life for a crime one wears a crown and another bears a cross,how ironic life could be

Why all these brainless comments? So we should open up all the prisons and release the inmates because politicians are getting off light abi?

These people are killers and deserve their fate. That is all.

send corrupt politicians to death not only the robbers, corrupts politician must die

Reminds me of the song by African China:

Poor man wey thief money they show am for crime fighter, crime fighter

Rich man wey thief money THEY NO DE show am for crime fighter.


Bode George was convicted for N5Billion and was released and celebrated after six months (who said people did not die of hunger as a result of depriving poor masses of their dividend of democracy?

Now someone is sentenced to death for N51,000? because he is a poor man?

and you guys will still brand those SANs and their type as your heros and celebrating them. wakeup guys

The supreme court must be filled with northerners.

I hope its the real culprits.
There's something about naija poilce arrests that make my skin crawl.

alexola20:

Q::But what brought many of these poor guys into robbery?
A::Selfish politicians.

To cure a disease,one has to know the cause of it.

By that,the court should start giving death sentences to all the corrupt politicians like bonus and allowances,and see what ll happen.

RE U INSINUATING THT because POLITICIANS RE NT LIVING UP TO THEIR RESPONSIBILTY THEN ARMED ROBBERS SHOULD BE SET FREE.I WONDER WHT IS HAPPENING 2 OUR REASON, HV U EVER HEARD OF ''2 wrongs does nt make 1 right

odiaero:

Wrong, read it again, the one given Death sentence for 51k is different from the others

He was sentenced because he robbed wth gun,d amount involved is inconsequential.Every crime has its punishment.in some Asia countries drug trafficking warrant death penalty even if d value of d drug is 5 naira,

Very easy to Okay death penalty for robbers. Sheybe na person wey get money dey sitdon enjoy.

What about the polithiefcians?

In Nigeria, once you have money, nothing do you.

alexola20:

-multiply by -=+!


Cheers!!

so also
-add to-=-

remain bless

The lever for justice in this country should be balanced between the rich and the poor,

So be it.

2bad

anyone that directly causes another man's death doesnt deserve to live

The law is very simple. Once u are armed while committing an offence e.g robbery it doesnt matter if you actually robbed the person of N1 as far as u were armed then the minimum sentence is Death sentence. It is a different ball game if u rob without being armed, so the fact in this case is not the sum in question but the fact that they were armed while robbing.

alexola20:

Q::But what brought many of these poor guys into robbery?
A::Selfish politicians.

To cure a disease,one has to know the cause of it.

By that,the court should start giving death sentences to all the corrupt politicians like  bonus and allowances,and see what ll happen.

What a silly comment, why not let all robbers go free cos politicians are stealing our money. Some of u need to get ur head checked

Those men dont deserve to be sentenced to death no matter the offence. Nigerians laws need change after several decades of failed laws that has had no good to the society. In an advanced developed country there is no death sentence to any criminal no matter the offence he will rather serve a jail term and be set free after the completion. Something is not right in Nigeria,and human life is nothing but a mosquito life, What happened to the politician that has loot a lot of our fortune and still they walk away freely with no certain judgment been brought upon them?are they above the law?i want us to understand we call them servant and we elect them to serve us so how can a servant be above the master?,

Is time for us to face the reality of life and stop this people from killing us,and wasting our talented leaders of tomorrow,they invoked hardship on us and make life difficult still there is no point of escaping the poverty because every single step you take to survive the hardship is death penalty or get shoot by the terrorist police men. Nigeria politics look like a modern slavery to me.

Hoodrat:

Those men dont deserve to be sentenced to death no matter the offence. Nigerians laws need change after several decades of failed laws that has had no good to the society. In an advanced developed country there is no death sentence to any criminal no matter the offence he will rather serve a jail term and be set free after the completion. Something is not right in Nigeria,and human life is nothing but a mosquito life, What happened to the politician that has loot a lot of our fortune and still they walk away freely with no certain judgment been brought upon them?are they above the law?i want us to understand we call them servant and we elect them to serve us so how can a servant be above the master?,

Is time for us to face the reality of life and stop this people from killing us,and wasting our talented leaders of tomorrow,they invoked hardship on us and make life difficult still there is no point of escaping the poverty because every single step you take to survive the hardship is death penalty or get shoot by the terrorist police men. Nigeria politics look like a modern slavery to me.

Is USA not an advanced country? So if u or any of ur family member is robbed and killed will be preaching this?

Whoever is afraid of death should be checked cuz life itself is a way too short. Let me backup what about the politician ?are they not killing us? do you realize how many souls nigeria lost in a day due to abject poverty and hardship?yet they get paid monthly and still nothing has been done. Either armed robber or no armed robber if nigeria is better no man in his mind will think of robbing fellow men.

Hoodrat:

Whoever is afraid of death should be checked cuz life itself is a way too short. Let me backup what about the politician ?are they not killing us? do you realize how many souls nigeria lost in a day due to abject poverty and hardship?yet they get paid monthly and still nothing has been done. Either armed robber or no armed robber if nigeria is better no man in his mind will think of robbing fellow men.

I don't know how u managed to type this nonsense, a thief is a thief, even if Nigeria is the richest country in the world some pple will still carry gun to rob, there are dangerious armed robbers in USA, UK etc even as those countries are rich, we can't let every armed robber go free cos politicians are stealing our money. There are millions of Nigerians who are working hard to live a decent life WITHOUT robbing anybody and give excuses.

What exactly are u suggesting?

[size=13pt]These robbers deserve to die like mosquitoes. They embarked on robbery operations on their own free will and ended up killing people (people not mosquitoes). They deserve to die to serve as deterrent to those that continue to embark on criminal activities because times are hard. This country is overpopulated with robbers so much so that we need to curb their population.

I till my land and slave honestly everyday to earn a decent meal, grow my crops and sell to earn a living. I brave the elements of weather while doing that. And when I earn my proceeds, some riffraff will stick a gun at my face and ask for my hard earned money because times are hard. I also pay my taxes to a government that does not build roads for me to transport my produce to the market. Rather, my tax is used to buy meals for some robber that earned a life sentence because he got caught stealing and ended up in jail. He went stealing because times are hard. Hard for him and soft for me, abi??

EVERY ROBBER SHOULD BE BURNT ALIVE TILL THEIR TONGUE STICK OUT. [/size]