Should this boy be hanged for stealing one android phone?

Tope Abiodun, a 23-year-old youth from Kabba, Kogi state, was last week sentenced to death by hanging by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for stealing an android LG phone valued at N87, 000.

Following the judgment, concerned Nigerians in Abuja immediately launched an appeal to authorities to intervene in the judgment which they said, was taken out of contest, considering the circumstances that led the young man to engage in the theft.

A report shared by one Don Capello wondered why this should happen in a country where politicians that looted billions of Naira meant to give Nigerian youths a learning and a future and keep them from stealing are out there roaming the streets in freedom and even celebrated by the society.

A close source from the prison who spoke in confidence lamented the fate of the poor and vulnerable masses.

“Tope speaks Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa languages fluently; he has been held in prison for four years and the young man has shown remorse and repentance. This is a lad that will assist visitors with their luggage down to cells of those they came to visit in Kuje prison.

“He is a good boy and we cannot allow him to be hanged like that, for God’s sake. I am appealing to well-meaning Nigerians, clergies alike to come to his aid.”

The Daily Times gathered that Abiodun, whose father had died of impoverished condition before he was born was managing life with his ageing mother.

“Tope Abiodun committed this crime when he was 18 years old, he told me the pressure to feed with his younger siblings pushed him to do it.

Probably he did that as an ignorant young boy out of the normal juvenile delinquency stage of vulnerable youths of today,” the source said.

It would be recalled that a man who abducted and raped a 12-year-old boy identified as Aminu was sentenced to a mere one month behind bars and ordered to pay a paltry N30,000 fine in Kontagora area of Niger state.

The victim died in the hospital after he was allegedly abused sexually by Abubakar, a tea seller in Ngwayanma area in the same Kontagora area of the state.

Abubakar, also known as Maishai reportedly abducted Aminu from his parents’ home sometime in March and held him hostage in his apartment until a neighbour noticed and raised the alarm and alerted the boy’s parents which led to the arrest of Abubkar. The victim died in hospital while police were questioning the accused person who initially denied the crime, but later confessed he had sex with Aminu several times before the boy took ill.

A group known as #HelpTope in Abuja is using the social media and every available medium to implore lawyers, NGOs and well meaning Nigerians to intervene and take the matter to the Appeal Court for the love of humanity and save the young soul from being wasted away.

It is a paradox indeed that in one country, a man who raped a minor who died as a result was jailed for one month and fined N30,000, while a youth who stole one android phone probably to put food on the table for his siblings and aged mother was is sentenced to die by hanging!