A dismissed soldier, Corporal Stephen Iweh of the Nigerian Army’s 6th Battalion, Ibagwa in Abak, was sentenced to death by hanging by an Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo for the murder of a tourist who provided him a lift.
Justice Bassey Nkanang ruled on Friday that the prosecution established beyond a reasonable doubt that Iweh, 39, murdered Christopher Enobong Jimmy, 42, and robbed him of his Toyota Matrix while armed with an unlicensed AK-47 rifle.
The crime took place on May 23, 2021, on the East-West Road in the Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.
Jimmy, a manager at a clearing and forwarding company in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, had offered Iweh a free trip from Trailer Park, Onne, Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom.
According to court papers, the soldier shot Jimmy in the head at Oboro Junction in Ikot Abasi while equipped with an AK-47 rifle he had illegally held since picking it up in Dambou, Borno State, in 2018. He then fled with his truck and other goods.
Investigations found that Iweh, a father of three who joined the Nigerian Army in 2002, abandoned his duty position at the Army Store in Abak to commit the crime. He was eventually tracked down to Andy Guest House in Ukanafun, where he was detained and the gun was retrieved.
Jimmy, driving his grey Toyota Matrix, had innocently offered a lift to the soldier, who was clad in full military attire.
They had apparently stopped at Oboro Junction to eat and relax when the soldier attacked, killing him immediately.
Justice Nkanang convicted Iweh on a three-count charge and sentenced him to:
Death by hanging for murder. Death by hanging for armed robbery. 10 years imprisonment for unlawful possession of firearms.
The convict’s request for leniency was denied, as the victim’s widow, Arit Jimmy, 34, wept in court while telling how her husband went to Port Harcourt to visit his sister and never returned.
