Saturday, September 27, 2025 - Akwa Ibom State High
Court sitting in Uyo on Friday sentenced a dismissed soldier with the Nigerian
Army, 6 Battalion, Ibagwa in Abak, Corporal Stephen Iweh, to d3ath by hanging
for the m8rder of a
42-year-old man, Christopher Enobong Jimmy.
The incident occurred on 23rd May, 2021 along the East-West
Road in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.
The late Jimmy, who was the Manager of a Clearing and
Forwarding Company in Port Harcourt, had offered Corporal Iweh a lift in his
car from Trailer Park in Onne, Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom.
Along the way, at Oboro Junction in Ikot Abasi, the 39-year-old
soldier shot him d3ad before fleeing with the vehicle and valuables.
Investigations revealed that Corporal Iweh, a father of
three children, had illegally kept the AK-47 rifle which he said he “picked at
Dambou, Borno State in 2018 and decided to keep it as personal arms”.
On the day of the killing, Corporal Iweh, was supposed to be
on duty at the Army Store, 6 Battalion, Ibagwa, Abak, but abandoned his post to
commit the crime.
According to Court records, Iweh, who was recruited into the
Army in 2002 was later traced to Andy Guest House in Ukanafun, where he was
arrested and an AK-47 rifle recovered from him.
In a judgment, the trial judge, Hon. Justice Bassey Nkanang
held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Corporal Iweh, a
native of Ameke Nkor in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State,
m8rdered Christopher Enobong Jimmy, an indigene of Ikot Abasi, robbed him of
his Toyota Matrix car, while armed with an AK-47 rifle and unlawfully possessed
the firearm without a license.
Justice Nkanang convicted him on a three-count charge.
He was sentenced to d3ath by hanging for m8rder, d3ath by
hanging for armed robbery, and 10 years imprisonment for unlawful possession of
firearms.
In his plea for mercy, the convict begged the court for what
he described as a “soft landing,” but his allocutus was rejected.
The late Christopher Jimmy is survived by his 34-year-old
widow, Arit, who tearfully recounted that her husband had left Port Harcourt to
visit his sister and family in Ikot Abasi, but did not return home.
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