By Daily Review Online
A 19-year-old Nigerian student, Oluwatobiloba “Tobi” Akinrinola, has been sentenced by a United Kingdom court after being found guilty of robbery and blackmail linked to an incident at a student gathering.
Akinrinola, a first-year student at the University of Leicester, was convicted over his role in the robbery of fellow students during a party in November 2025. He had remained in custody at Nottingham Prison following his conviction before sentencing.
Prosecutors told the court that he participated in a coordinated attack during which victims were threatened and robbed of their valuables. After reviewing the evidence, the court found him guilty of robbery and blackmail.
However, Akinrinola’s family has continued to insist that he was wrongly convicted. They argued that the prosecution’s case relied largely on his association with another suspect and CCTV footage showing him arriving at the venue, rather than direct evidence linking him to the robbery.
The family also maintained that no stolen property was recovered from him, no suspicious funds were traced to his bank accounts, and some witnesses testified that he neither took part in the robbery nor benefited from it.
According to the family, Akinrinola voluntarily contacted the police after seeing social media posts linking him to the incident because he believed he had committed no offence.
They have appealed for a review of the conviction and called on the UK authorities, the Nigerian government, legal practitioners and human rights organisations to support efforts to secure what they described as justice for the teenager.