The Adamawa State High Court sitting in Yola has sentenced a drug hawker and a labourer to death by hanging or lethal injection over the murder of a tricycle owner.

Justice Kaynson Lawanson, convicted Habu Badaru, 27, and Auwal Lawan, 26, on charges of “criminal conspiracy, robbery and culpable homicide.”

Habu from Askira Uba and Lawan, who hails from Uba Hildi, were said to have conspired and robbed a tricycle operator known as Algoni Muhammed after drugging him with pentazocine injection and killing him at Uba Hildi in Hong LGA.

The prosecution told the court that the convicts, on April 4, 2022, made away with the tricycle of Algoni Muhammed after killing and breaking his neck.

While delivering judgment on Tuesday, Jan. 16, Justice Lawanson said: “The sentence of the court upon you is to be hanged by the neck or by lethal injection until you are dead. May the Lord have mercy upon you.”

A further account of the case has it that the convicts dumped Algoni’s corpse in a river in Uba Hildi and took his tricycle, intending to sell it to hopefully raise N100,000 for Habu to settle a debt.

Habu and Lawan had allegedly conspired and boarded the deceased’s tricycle to the house of Habu, and on arrival, they had held their victim and injected him with an overdose of pentazocine before stealing his tricycle.

After killing him and dumping his dead body in the river, Habu rode on the tricycle to Mubi town to sell it, but he had no luck there as people would not buy it because he could not provide its documents. He returned to nearby Mararaba Mubi and parked the tricycle, but went back to Mubi the following morning when he again could not get a buyer.

He then called a tricycle dealer in Uba to come and buy it.

On arrival in Mubi, the dealer asked Habu how he got the tricycle since he was known only to hawk drugs.

When Habu could not provide a convincing answer, he called the Chairman of the Tricycle Sellers Association and told him of the development. The chairman alerted the police, who went to the area and arrested Habu.