Abel Udo Jacob, a lecturer at the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic in Ikot Osurua, and Nicholas Ntokon, an innocent man, were found guilty by the State High Court of offenses related to terrorism, extortion, and cultism.
Abel, the lecturer, would spend three years behind bars, while Innocent, his counterpart, would spend eight.
In his ruling on Wednesday, Hon. Justice Augustine Odokwo, the trial judge, found Ntokon and Jacob guilty of engaging in a “merciless extortion scheme” against Edikan Jacob Jackson, a local businessman, which caused him to lose over N50,000,000 and nearly bring down his family business.
The prosecution established that Innocent Ntokon terrorized the victim between 2016 and 2020 by using his position as a Klans Konfraternity leader.
The lecturer served as the syndicate’s “financial clearinghouse,” and the court heard testimony about how Ntokon threatened to kill the victim’s mother and sisters and dispatched armed “enforcers” to the victim’s stores to demand monthly payments.
His defense that he thought the millions going through his account were for “NDDC roofing contracts” was dismissed by the court as “totally not in accordance with common sense.”
The defendants begged for forgiveness at the conclusion of the two-hour verdict.
“The victim was psychologically terrorized for four years and lost his father partly due to a lack of funds caused by this very extortion,” the court said in evaluating their appeal for compassion, highlighting the need for the court to take into account the severity of the victims’ psychological anguish.
After assessing the evidence, Justice Odokwo found Ntokon guilty of eight years in prison (to run consecutively), calling him a “predator who used the cloak of a trader to hide the heart of a hardened and merciless cultist and extortionist.”
Abel Udo Jacob received a maximum term of three years in prison (to run consecutively) after being found guilty on charges of terrorism, stealing, and demanding with menace.
Additionally, the court mandated that the offenders pay the victim N25,000,000 jointly and severally.
A Toyota Avensis and a Mercedes Benz that were found to be proceeds of the crime were also ordered by the court to be forfeited to the State and put up for auction in order to partially compensate the nominal complainant.
