A high court in Maiduguri on Friday sentenced an 18-year-old herdsman, Adamu Mohammed, to death by hanging for the culpable homicide of a fellow herder, 19-year-old Adamu Ali, during a dispute in January this year.
Justice Mohammed Maina ruled that the prosecution had successfully proven beyond reasonable doubt that Mohammed fatally struck Ali on the head with a cutlass in the bush near Auno, in Konduga local government area, on January 19, 2025.
“The force used was excessive and unjustified,” Justice Maina declared, dismissing the defendant’s claim of self-defence due to inconsistencies in his testimony and the absence of evidence that he could not have retreated.
The judge held that Mohammed’s actions met the criteria for culpable homicide punishable by death under Section 191(a) of the Borno State Penal Code Law, 2023.
Ali succumbed to his injuries at the Borno State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri shortly after the incident.
During the trial, Mohammed initially pleaded guilty, but the court entered a not-guilty plea owing to the capital nature of the charge. The prosecution called two witnesses and tendered exhibits, including the defendant’s confessional statements in which he admitted fighting the deceased with a cutlass, alongside a medical report confirming the cause of death.
The conviction comes amid recurring tensions in Nigeria’s northeast, where disputes among pastoralists occasionally turn violent, though clashes more frequently involve herders and farmers.
No immediate appeal details were available, but death sentences in Nigeria often face lengthy reviews before any execution.
The case underscores ongoing challenges in managing conflicts within nomadic communities in a region still recovering from years of Boko Haram insurgency.
