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Tag: Offa bank robbery

  • Court sentences five to death over 2018 Offa Bank Robbery

    Court sentences five to death over 2018 Offa Bank Robbery

    A High Court sitting in Ilorin on Thursday sentenced five men charged with the Offa bank robbery incident to death by hanging.

    The court convicted  Ayoade Akinnibosun, Azeez Salahudeen, Niyi Ogundiran, Ibikunle Ogunleye and Adeola Abraham.

    Delivering judgment, Justice Haleema Saliman held that the five defendants were found guilty of conspiracy, armed robbery, culpable homicide and illegal possession of fire arms.

    Saliman said that the defendants caused the death of people, including a police officers and civilians during the armed robbery in Offa, on April, 2018, which is punishable by death.

    Earlier, the lead prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacob (SAN) said that the prosecution was able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt and the judgement was done accordingly.

    Jacob said that the six year spent on the case was worth it, as evidence clearly showed that the convicts were involved in the robbery and killings.

    Read Also: Offa Bank Robbery: How prime suspect died – Police

    He said that the trials had been concluded and the prosecutors had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt for the suspects to be convicted.

    The lead defence counsel, Nathaniel Emeribe, represented by Abdullahi Jimba said that the judgment was not surprising, considering the evidence presented in court, it had been envisaged that it would end that way.

    He, however, said that in line with the case of AG Oyo state with Bello, there would definitely be an appeal and record would be compiled and moved to the court of appeal.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prime suspect, a policeman, Michael Adikwu died in police custody during the trial while the remaining five pleaded for mercy but were convicted.

    (NAN)

  • Police want me to implicate Saraki, says Offa robbery suspect

    One of the suspects in the April 5th, 2018 bloody bank robbery in Offa, Offa local government area of Kwara state, Ayoade Akinnibosun on Monday revealed that the police asked him to implicate Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    Akinnibosun alongside two other suspects, Ibikunle Ogunleye (2nd accused person) and Adeola Abraham (3rd accused person) gave testimonies of how police extracted statements from them under duress at a Kwara state High Court, sitting in Ilorin.

    Other accused persons Salaudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran were in court.

    The three accused persons also said that the principal suspect Michael Adikwu in the robbery incident was shot dead by one Inspector Vincent attached to the police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

    The police high command had reportedly announced that Michael Adikwu slumped in their custody and was rushed to the hospital before he finally died.

    IRT which office in Abuja, is headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari Akinnibosun, who is the first accused person, Ogunleye and Abraham in the Offa robbery incident were examined and cross-examined by their counsel Mathias Emeribe and Prosecution counsel Razaq Gold in a trial within trial on how they were tortured and threatened by the police to make confessional statements.

    Prosecution witness Inspector Hitila Hassan had on Thursday told the court that the suspects voluntarily gave their statements under his supervision.

    Lead Prosecuting Counsel Prof Wahab Egbewole sought to tender the statements as exhibit but defence counsel Mathias Emeribe objected.

    Mr. Emeribe argued that the statements were not voluntarily taken, noting that they fell short of the provisions of the Evidence Act particularly sections 28 and 29.

    At Monday proceedings, Akinnibosun said “Abba Kyari told me to mention the name of Senate President Bukola Saraki that he gave me the guns for the operations. But I declined to do contending that my life is at stake.

    “He promised that they would reward me handsomely and set me free if I can indict Senator Saraki. When I disagreed they called some policemen to take me back to their cell. During this time my hands were tied to my legs in the back. Their children are in America and Europe you are allowing yourselves to be used as political thugs.”

    Read Also: Hearing of Offa robbery suspects adjourned for security reasons

    Akinnibosun added that he was the leader of Kwara South Liberation Movement mobilizing young jobless graduates for the Senator representing Kwara South district in the upper legislative chamber, Dr Rafiu Ibrahim.

    The essence is to secure government jobs for the boys, he said. Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye and Adeola Ibrahim gave graphic details of their horrifying experience allegedly in the police custody in Abuja.

    During one of their encounters at the police IRT ‘theatre room,’ they said in their presence Inspector Vincent allegedly shot dead five Fulani men.

    The trio added that it was in the same ‘theatre room that Inspector Vincent otherwise known as ‘Mr. Torture,’ allegedly shot dead Michael Adikwu for failing to indict them in the robbery incident.

    According to Ibikunle Ogunleye “they brought the late Adikwu to implicate us and he said he had not met any of us in his life that is why Mr. Torture shot him to death. “

    Presiding judge, Justice Halimat Salman adjourned the case to March 25th for continuation of trial within trial.

  • Offa robbery: Absence of defence counsel stalls hearing of suspects

    Absence of defence counsel, Mathias Emeribe on Tuesday stalled the continuation of hearing of the Offa robbery suspects at the Kwara state High Court sitting in Ilorin.

    The case had been adjourned to February 19th and 20th for continuation of examination of witnesses by prosecution.

    All the accused persons, Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salaudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran were in court on Tuesday.

    Prosecution counsel, Prof Wahab Egbewole informed the court that Mr. Emeribe called and sent text message to him on what he described as “life threatening experience on the road” and suggested adjournment, which the court reluctantly agreed with.

    Presiding judge, Justice Halima Saleeman expressed disappointment over the absence of the defence counsel in court.

    She said that the prosecution counsel should have asked for details of the “life threatening experience” of the defence counsel.

    Read Also: Offa robbery: 21 AK47 rifles carted away from police amoury, says witness

    “Does it mean that he won’t step out of his room till after the national elections? I can’t fathom this excuse and explanation, for someone to sit in the comfort of his house and be sending text messages. This court is only interested in timely dispensation of the matter and any delay could put the court in jeopardy”, she said.

    Justice Saleeman thereafter adjourned hearing on the matter till March 14 and 15, 2019.

    Speaking with reporters after the court sitting, Prof Egbewole said that the defence counsel called him on Sunday and also sent a text message to him on Tuesday that he could not be in court on Wednesday and suggested a date after the national elections.

    He said “this is just to show on the part of the prosecution that we’ve arranged our witnesses because we have them here from Plateau and Zamfara states, to ensure that the matter proceeds. But here we are.”

  • Saraki seeks inquiry into key suspect’s death

    Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday asked the Presidency to institute a judicial inquiry into the death of the principal suspect in the April 5 Offa bank robbery, Michael Adikwu.

    He said the inquiry should be constituted to determine “how and when the suspect died.”

    The Senate President in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, noted that the disclosure by the Police vindicated his earlier claim that the suspect had been killed in police custody and that the investigation was politically motivated to implicate him (Saraki), Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed and a few others.

    He said the inquiry would help to examine and interrogate how the investigation into the robbery was conducted by the Police and whether the investigation followed the normal process and complied with global best practices.

    Dr. Saraki added that the Police needed to confirm why it took them so long to make the disclosure about the death of the principal suspect after they denied it at the time he (Saraki) disclosed the information and it was reported in the media.

    He said: “It should be recalled that when we mentioned it that the principal suspect had been murdered and that investigation into the Offa robbery was politically motivated and targeted at implicating me and other individuals, the Police Public Relations Officer, Moshood Jimoh,  said: ‘Michael Adikwu is in police custody. You know that he is the one that led the killing of 22 people. The firearms that were carted away, he is helping the police in the investigation to recover them. There is a state in the Southwest where they kept him. I can’t mention the state. It is in one of the Southwest states’.

    “The fresh facts have now thrown more light into why there had been inconsistencies in the statements by the Police. The Police initially told the Attorney-General of Kwara State that the principal suspect was alive and they only later reluctantly disclosed that he died in the course of arrest. How can a suspect confirmed to be in custody now be said to have died in the course of arrest? This contradiction shows a deliberate attempt to cover up something.

    “It is obvious that the police have orchestrated the information they give to the public on the Offa robbery only to tarnish the image of the Kwara State governor and myself. We are calling for a public inquiry to probe the issues of extra-judicial killing, the cover-up of this killing with the aim of framing up some individuals for political purpose and politicising of criminal investigations. The facts need to be laid bare.

    “The inquiry may help to further document and define the terms of handling of suspects in police custody and how to prevent extra-judicial killing of suspects, for whatever purpose. There is need for transparency in investigations into all cases and our methods should comply with global standards. We should discourage situations where the police politicise investigations and deliberately set out to frame up some individuals.

    “With the facts on ground, the issues that should be unearthed by the inquiry include: When exactly did the suspect die? How did he die? Why was the police denying the facts of his death when they knew he had died? At what point did the Police leadership know of the death? Why are the police covering up the facts? We believe the answer to these questions will help the country to address the issue of human rights abuse, extra-judicial killing, manipulation of criminal investigation to achieve political end, deliberate attempt to cover up some facts and how skewed investigation of crime can impact on successful prosecution of suspects.”

    Saraki said now that the police have begun prosecution of the remaining suspects, there should be diligent and prompt prosecution so that justice can be transparently done to the victims of the Offa robbery and the accused persons.

  • Offa bank robbery: Kwara accuses police of blackmail

    Kwara State government said yesterday that the Police was being economical with the truth as regard the April robbery suspects in Offa.

    The police had reportedly blamed attorney-general and commissioner for Justice for delaying arraignment of the suspects.

    They said they had concluded investigations and sent the case file to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who directed that the file be sent to the state attorney-general.

    Reacting to the police statement in Ilorin, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN) described the police utterances as ‘cheap blackmail.’

    Said he: “I see this as a cheap blackmail by the police. They have something to hide, which they are yet to tell Nigerians. I am sure at the end of the day, Nigerians will know what has transpired in this matter. That is why the police are passing the buck. They can now see that Nigerians have started asking questions that if you’ve arrested suspects since April and they are yet to be arraigned, then there must be something about it. I urge people to ask questions about this matter.

    “I am surprised, particularly the statement coming from the police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood. Moshood, without being personal, is from Ilorin. He has contacts and I am sure he follows events in the Kwara Command. He knows that the suspects are still with him at the police headquarters.

    “Why will he now mislead the public that we are yet to prosecute? How can you prosecute people kept in Abuja in Kwara State High Court? It is not possible.”

    The attorney-general added: “I want to confirm to you that a letter was written from the Office of the Director of the Public Prosecution of the Federation under the Office of the Attorney-General of them Federation. My office received the letter on August 27.

    “The content of the letter had to do with the investigation report on the Offa robbery and directing my office to take up the prosecution of the matter.

    “Immediately we received this letter on September 6, we wrote a letter through the Office of the State Director of the Public Prosecution to the Office of the Attorney-General requesting them to provide for us the original case diary in the Offa robbery and to transfer the suspects to Kwara State Police Command. We waited for about three weeks and did not hear anything from them.

    “I then met the AIG Legal, David Ogbodo and requested that the original case diary be sent to Kwara to enable us start prosecution of the matter. I also requested him to send the suspects to Kwara State and he told me that he had directed the man in charge. That is Abba Kyari.

    “We waited for another week, we could not get anything from them. So, I directed my DPP to liaise with the police this time. He liaised with the police both in the state and with Abbah Kyari. They promised everyday that they would send the suspects to Kwara and the original case diary, to no avail.

    “You cannot prosecute under the law without having the original case diary. You cannot even file a charge without the case diary and in filing a charge, you have to exhibit what we call proof of evidence.

    “This proof of evidence entails the statements of witnesses. Statements of witnesses in this sense, we are talking of the people that investigated Offa robbers. We don’t have all these with us. We don’t have the suspects on ground, we don’t have the witnesses on ground.

    “How do you file a charge? How do you prosecute people you cannot see?”

  • Lapai Bank robbery: AIG confirms arrest of suspects

    The Assistant Inspector General of Police ( AIG ) Fredrick Lakanu has disclosed that the Police has arrested the brains behind the attack of two banks in Lapai local government area of Niger State in March this year.

    He however said that the suspects would not be paraded yet because of security and strategic reasons.

    Lakanu made this disclosure in Minna on Thursday while fielding questions from journalists after addressing officers of the Niger State Police Command.

    “Like the Offa bank robbery, we have also made similar breakthrough in the Lapai banks robberies and some of the suspects have been arrested.

    “For security reasons sometimes, especially if some of them are still out there, we would not need to reveal our strategies, but I can assure you that we are working assiduously to pick everybody involved in that heinous crime”.

    Speaking on the recent jail break at the Minna Medium Security Prison, the AIG said more than half of the escapees have been arrested adding that information have been given on the whereabouts of the escapees who started still on the run.

    He then applauded the state Police Command for carrying out its duty towards ensuring peace and tranquility in the state stating that provisional approval has been given to the state command to open new divisional police stations across the state.

  • Two other Offa robbery suspects implicated Saraki – Police

    Two suspects arrested by the Nigeria Police Force have allegedly implicated Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in connection with the Offa bank robbery.

    Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, ACP Jimoh Moshood, disclosed this while giving update on the Offa bank robbery, in Abuja.

    He said the two out of the three suspects the Police was after have confessed to have committed various crimes for Senator Saraki in the state.

    The Force Spokesperson said one of the suspects was still at large.

    He gave the names of the suspects as Alhaji Kehinde Gobiri aka Captain ‘47yrs’ and Alhaji Oba Shuaib Olododo aka Jawando ‘53yrs’ both native of Kwara state.

    The gang leader, Ayoade Akinnibosun a.k.a AY, had on Sunday named Dr. Saraki and Kwara state Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, in connection with the Offa bank robbery.

    Moshood told reporters that both suspects have admitted to committing crimes and criminalities for the senate president in Kwara Central Senatorial District under the guise of political thuggery.

    He said: “The Nigeria Police Force has arrested two out of the three suspects mentioned by the overall gang leader of Offa Bank robbery. The two suspects are now in Police custody.

    “They have admitted to various crimes and criminalities they have committed in Kwara Central Senatorial District under the guise of political thuggery for the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki.

    “They are currently under investigation and will be charged to court on completion of investigation.”

    Moshood also said the Senate president was still under investigation in connection with the bank robbery.

    He said the Force has not withdrawn its summon issued to Dr. Saraki with regards to the bank robbery.

    He also said the Force would not be deterred in its investigation no matter the personality involved.

    According to him, the confessions of the suspects under its custody showed that the senate president has a case to answer.

    “The Nigeria Police Force will not be cowed or succumb to intimidation from any quarter in carrying out a thorough and discreet investigation into the Offa Bank Robbery where significant successes have been recorded.

    “The ongoing investigation will be driven to a logical conclusion.

    “The Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki is still under investigation in connection to the Offa bank Robbery and the Nigeria Police Force will do everything possible within the ambit of the law to ensure that justice is done in this case,” the Police spokesman stated

  • Offa bank robbery and Senate probe

    LAST Thursday, the Senate Joint Committee on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence has been mandated to probe the gory Offa, Kwara State, bank robbery that took more than 30 lives, including some 19 policemen. It remains probably one of the most traumatising  losses ever suffered by the police in one single attack. It is not clear what the Senate hopes to unearth at this stage when police investigations are still fresh and ongoing. The Senate can inquire into any issue, in line with constitutional provisions, but it owes it to itself to carefully select what those issues are and when the probes should be carried out.

    The Senate unnecessarily burdens itself by empanelling its joint committee to investigate a robbery which the police, at this point, need single-minded resolve to investigate and solve, especially with the robbers still at large. It is possible, as some fear, that the police are not quite as equipped or proactive in handling most issues of law enforcement, and an external probe could help uncover those fault lines. It is also possible that the police could engage in a cover up if they were left to carry out that act of self-reflection. In consequence, an external inquiry could be of great value in finding out what went wrong in the Offa robbery and how a future re-occurrence anywhere else could be avoided.

    The Senate can still investigate these shortcomings sometime in the future; but for now, the police need all the concentration they can muster to hunt the fleeing robbers and to mourn their dead. It is not yet time for the Senate to call the police to task. The timing is premature.

  • Senate to probe Offa bank robbery

    •Kwara to buy Armoured Personnel Carriers
    •We have picked our pieces, says monarch

    The Senate yesterday raised a panel to investigate the Offa, Kwara State, bank robbery.

    It mandated its joint Committee on Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence to probe the matter.

    The committee has two weeks to submit its report.

    The resolution followed a motion on “The dastardly robbery on banks in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State,” sponsored by Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim (Kwara South).

    The lawmakers hailed Senate President Bukola Saraki for visiting Offa.

    They directed the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to reinforce security measures in the area and urged the Federal Government, through the Army, to consider setting up a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Kwara South.

    Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed vowed to buy more Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) to tighten security in Offa and strategic locations.

    The governor spoke during the swearing in of the Khadi of the Shariah Court of Appeal, Mas’ud Adebayo Oniye.

    He urged well-meaning indigenes to resist attempts by anyone to use the attack for political purposes.

    The governor frowned at utterances made to score political gain, noting that “those utterances do not reflect our values as Kwarans and should stop, out of respect for the dead and injured.

    He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, let me reassure Kwarans and Nigerians that the culprits will be apprehended and brought to justice.

    “Presently, the police and other security agencies have begun a vigorous manhunt for the perpetrators. Our people must be vigilant and security-conscious as part of community involvement in effective policing”.

    The Olofa of Offa, Oba Mohammed Muftau Gbadamosi, who described the attacks as pathetic, said he has accepted the incident as “an act of God”.

    The monarch spoke yesterday when some members of the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) visited him in his palace.

    He said: “We have picked up our pieces. God is the ultimate protector; no level of security can secure lives and property without being sanctioned by God. Whether we like it or not, God knows why the attack happened.

    “We appreciate how you feel for us and we pray that such a gory incident will never repeat itself.”

    The Ojomu of Offa, Chief Joseph Akinola, received the team on behalf of the monarch.

    Coordinator of the organisation Comrade Abubakar Sulaiman, who commiserated with the monarch, said: “We, in the Buhari Campaign Organisation, commiserate with the Olofa of Offa and families of those who died.

    “We pray this kind of incident will not happen again and God to give families of the victims the fortitude to bear the loss.”

  • Senate probes Offa bank robbery

    The Senate on Thursday constituted a high powered panel to investigate the recent bank robbery in Offa, Kwara State.

    The upper chamber mandated its joint Committee on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence to investigate the incident.

    It gave the committee two weeks to submit its report.

    The resolution followed the adoption of a motion on “The dastardly armed robbery attack on banks in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State,” sponsored by Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim (Kwara South).

    The lawmakers observed a minute silence in honour of those during the robbery incident and commended the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, for rising to the situation instantly by visiting Offa LGA after the attack.

    They directed the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to reinforce security measures to secure lives and properties in the area.

    The Senate also urged the Federal Government set up the army Forward Operating Base (FOB) for Kwara South senatorial district.