By George Omagbemi
SOKOTO — September 28, 2026: The Department of State Services (DSS) has secured the conviction and death sentence of Ibrahim Usman, popularly known as Dan Iyali, over his involvement in the kidnapping and killing of three persons in Sokoto State in September 2023.
Usman was convicted by the High Court of Justice of Sokoto State, sitting in the Sokoto Judicial Division, after facing a four-count charge alongside other suspects who remain at large.
The charges included criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, culpable homicide punishable with death, and voluntarily causing grievous hurt without provocation.
According to the DSS, the case arose from a September 2023 incident in which three persons were kidnapped and subsequently killed in Sokoto State. The intelligence agency prosecuted Usman before the state High Court, leading to the death sentence.
The development adds to a series of recent convictions secured by the DSS in Sokoto involving serious security-related offences.
In June 2026, the Sokoto High Court sentenced three other men (Yusuf Muhammad, also known as Sallau, a Nigerien national; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad) to death by hanging over terrorism and arms-proliferation charges. The three had been arrested by the DSS Counter Terrorism Unit in June 2025 in connection with alleged cross-border criminal activities.
However, in the Dan Iyali case, the DSS said other suspects charged alongside Usman are still at large.
The latest conviction comes amid continued security challenges involving kidnapping and other violent crimes in parts of Nigeria’s North-West.
The DSS has continued to prosecute cases involving kidnapping, terrorism and other serious offences, while the latest Sokoto judgment places renewed attention on the criminal justice response to violent crime in the region.
The conviction and sentence were reported by major Nigerian news organisations on Monday, September 28, 2026.
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