An Adamawa State High Court on Thursday sentenced three men to death for kidnapping two Catholic priests in February 2025.
The convicts are Taledo Demiel, Namomai Medan and Mikaila Yusuf, who were found guilty of multiple offences, including criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, harbouring a kidnapped person and negotiating to receive ransom for the release of Reverend Fathers Matthew Dutsemi and Abraham Sauman.
Delivering judgment, Justice Christopher Mapeo convicted the three men and sentenced them to death for kidnapping, armed robbery and other related offences.
The judgment brings to seven the number of death sentences reportedly secured by the Department of State Services (DSS) in 2026.
On May 20, 2026, an Ekiti State High Court sentenced Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar to death by hanging for kidnapping.
Similarly, on June 3, 2026, a Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced four men to death by hanging for their involvement in the June 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, in which worshippers were massacred.
The convicts were identified as Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Alqasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik and Abdulkareem Idris.
On June 15, 2026, a Katsina State High Court sentenced Hauwa’u Mukhtar, a female arms courier, to death by hanging.
The following day, June 16, a Kogi State High Court handed down a death sentence by hanging to Jibrin Halilu for kidnapping and murdering his neighbour in Obajana, an industrial town in the state.
On June 22, a Sokoto State High Court sentenced three men — Muhammed Yusuf Sallau, Jabbi Ahlaji Yale and Kabiru Muhammed — to death by hanging for terrorism-related offences and transporting arms.
More recently, on September 28, 2026, a Sokoto State High Court sentenced Ibrahim Usman, popularly known as Dan Iyali, to death by hanging over his involvement in the killing of three kidnapped persons in the state.
The latest judgment in Adamawa adds to the series of death sentences handed down by courts across the country in 2026 for offences ranging from kidnapping and armed robbery to terrorism-related crimes.