Seven Convicted, Including Twin Brothers, Sentenced to Death by Hanging for 2013 Murder of Cleric

Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.

A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has sentenced seven individuals, including twin brothers, to death by hanging for the abduction and murder of a cleric, Reverend Edwin Isaiah Dokubo-Harry, an offence committed in 2013 in the Abalama community of Asari-Toru Local Government Area. Justice Boma Diepiri delivered the judgment on Monday, May 25, 2026, finding the accused guilty of conspiracy, kidnapping, murder, and unlawful possession of firearms. However, the court discharged and acquitted two other defendants – Emmanuel Israel and Nephew Philemon – after ruling that the prosecution failed to establish sufficient evidence against them.

The court heard that on December 6, 2013, the convicts, alongside others still at large, lured Reverend Dokubo-Harry into a forest in the Abalama area, where he was abducted, blindfolded, and restrained. The cleric later died, and his body was reportedly dumped in a nearby creek. Justice Diepiri held that the prosecution had successfully proven the charges beyond reasonable doubt against Precious Jack Opera, Answer Dick, Osaki Fubara, Prince Mikado Philip, Tienabeso George, Seleipri Fubara, and Alaboeriya Fubara. The judge subsequently sentenced the seven convicts to death by hanging, ordering that they "be hanged by the neck until confirmed dead." The court also directed that the firearms and other exhibits recovered during the investigation be handed over to the Nigeria Police.

Following the pronouncement of the death sentence, emotional scenes unfolded in the courtroom as some of the convicts and their family members broke down in uncontrollable tears. The judgment brings to a close a 13‑year legal battle over the brutal killing of the cleric, whose abduction and death had remained a source of grief for his congregation and the wider Abalama community. Justice Diepiri's decision, while offering a measure of closure to the family of the deceased, also underscores the finality of capital punishment under Nigerian law, where death sentences must be confirmed by the state governor before execution can be carried out.

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