Anambra State High Court, Nnewi Judicial Division, presided over by Justice Vincent Agbata, on Tuesday, 2nd June 2026, sentenced Chidozie Godwin Obinna and Ifeanyi Onyido, to death by hanging after convicting them of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, and causing grievous harm to Chief Lawrence Ezeifeka in Ekwulumili, Nnewi South Local Government Area.
The first defendant in the matter, Chidozie Godwin Obinna, was convicted and sentenced in absentia after he jumped bail.
Angel Network News (ANN) gathered that on 12th December 2020, at about 8:30 p.m, the convicts and other gang members, stormed the home of their victim, assaulted him, threw him from the first floor of his building, and subsequently abducted him to an unknown hideout, where they held him hostage for four days until his family paid a ransom of seven million, five hundred thousand naira (₦7,500,000).
Later, police officers, working in collaboration with the Anambra State Security Service, tracked and arrested the defendants.
During the trial, the prosecution called four witnesses, including the victim, the victim’s son who delivered the ransom, and the Investigating Police Officer, all of whom testified against the defendants.
In his defence, Ifeanyi Onyido denied involvement in the crime and claimed that he was also kidnapped, but the court found that he received part of the ransom and could not explain why, noting that the evidence presented by all the prosecution witnesses was uncontroverted and unchallenged by the defence counsel.
