Two cult leaders and key members of a criminal gang who made life difficult for residents of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital and its environs, have been consigned to spend the rest of their lives in prison.
The convicts: John Pedro Johnson and co – accomplice, Ansa Effiong Edem, were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment having been found guilty by the State High Court sitting in Uyo.
The trial judge, Justice Nsemeke Daniel, in his judgment delivered in a Charge No. HU/128C/2024, found the defendants guilty of conspiracy, armed robbery and cultism.
The case arose from a series of armed robbery and cult-related attacks carried out by the duo between 2022 and 2023, during which residents were robbed, assaulted and injured.
The prosecution, according to the particulars of the case, had commenced in 2025 before Justice Daniel, following the transfer of the former trial judge, Justice Gabriel Ette, to another jurisdiction.
Consequently, Justice Daniel sentenced each defendant to five years imprisonment for conspiracy, life imprisonment for armed robbery and seven years’ imprisonment for cultism.
