The fate of Michael Adikwu, the
dismissed police corporal who allegedly planned and led the Offa bank heist of
April 5, 2018, has become a subject of speculation.
The robbery led to 33 fatalities,
including pregnant women and 12 police officers.
Police initially described Adikwu
as “sectional gang leader” when he was declared wanted in connection with the
robbery, and was accused of killing 22 persons, mostly at the Offa police
station.
He was later arrested after still
pictures from CCTV were released to the public.
In a press statement at the
weekend, Jimoh Moshood, an assistant commissioner of police and force public
relations officer, conspicuously at No. 6 on the list of suspects was: Michael
Adikwu ‘M’ 30Yrs – Sectional Gang Leader, Killed Twenty Two (22) Persons,
mostly at the Police Station.
However, It was noticed that when
police gave an update on investigations on Sunday, Adikwu was not among the
paraded suspects.
Instead, Ayodele Akinnibosun aka
AY — who described himself as political thug of Senate President Bukola Saraki
and Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state — spoke on behalf of the suspects.
Asked by journalists where they
got their weapons from, AY replied: “It was through this… one retired police
officer, Michael (Adikwu)… he was the one that comes with ammunition.”
There were rumours that Adikwu —
who confessed to have killed several policemen as a revenge for his “unfair” dismissal — was shot dead in the
presence of the other suspects in other to coerce confessions from them.
Things became more suspicious on
Wednesday when Moshood addressed the press and Adikwu’s name was no longer on
the list of suspects, further fuelling speculation that he might have been
killed.
If he has been killed,
Akinnibosun’s claim that he was the one that supplied them ammunition might
become difficult to prove in court.
‘ADIKWU IS ALIVE’
Asked pointedly on Wednesday by TheCable if Adikwu had been killed in
custody, Moshood dismissed the speculation.
He said Adikwu was still in
police custody but refused to disclose where he is being held.
“Michael Adikwu is in police
custody. You know he is the one that led the killing of 22 people. So the fire
arms that were carted away, he is helping the police in investigation to
recover them,” he said.
But why was he not paraded?
“Even the people we paraded last
Sunday were 15 and they are 22 in number; some are in Ilorin, some are in other
locations. There is a state in the south-west where they kept him… the police;
that is where he is. I can’t mention the state. He is in one of the south-west
states,” he said.
He added that the suspect’s name
was not in the police statement of Wednesday “because he was not one of those
we paraded.”
“It (Adikwu’s name) is not in the
statement today but it was in the other one; the last one we did on Sunday.
Only five people that we brought today; only five people that their names were
there. He is not among those people we paraded today (Wednesday).”
Reacting to reports that Adikwu
was killed in custody, the police spokesman said “there is nothing like that”,
and that the suspect will be paraded “soon.”
“Who killed him?” he asked,
saying: “We will parade him soon, once they recover all the weapons.”
Adikwu, in an interview with
Daily Trust Saturday published on June 2, had confessed to planning the heist
and killing policemen, saying he was unfairly dismissed from the force.
WHO IS MICHAEL ADIKWU?
According to information earlier
released by the police, “Micheal Adikwu, is a native of Apa LGA Benue state, a
dismissed police CPL (corporal) who was arrested, tried and dismissed from the
force and charged to court by the police in 2012 in Kwara state for criminal
conspiracy and aiding the escape from lawful custody of armed robbery suspects.
“He served three years in prison
and subsequently found his way out in 2015. He became a vicious and notorious
gang leader of armed robbery syndicate wanted for several armed robberies in
Kwara and other states of the north-central and south-west.”
He confirmed being dismissed in
the interview with Daily Trust Saturday.
“I was formerly working with the
Kwara State Police Command, Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS). I was dismissed
for allowing detained suspected armed robbers to walk. It was not my fault, it
was a gang-up against me.
“Go and ask, I was one of the
finest policemen at SARS, Kwara State Command. I undertake most of the
difficult tasks. But for just one mistake which was not my fault, I got kicked
out of the force. I was not given fair-hearing, so I now hate everything about
the police.
“The killing of the policemen was
not a mistake, but quite deliberate. I see them as all the same.”
He said it took him about three
weeks to plan the Offa heist.
Adikwu said as a resident, he
knew Offa like the back of his hand.
Describing how he met other gang
leaders, he said: “I got to know a good number of them while I was working in
SARS. Initially, they were a little afraid, but I was able to sway their minds.
“After the meetings, we took a
tour round the bank during which were able to identify the security points,
which were very loose. The next step was getting enough guns and ammunition, so
we put together guns belonging to various gangs.”
He said he suggested smoking bank
security out of their post with tear gas.
“We arrived the bank very early
on the day of the operation with each person manning his own area. We agreed
that only five of us drawn from the various gangs will enter the banking hall,”
he said.
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