The three men charged to court
over the April 5, 2018, bank robbery in Offa, Kwara state, told a high court in
Ilorin, Kwara capital, that the confessional statements admitting to the crime,
were obtained under duress.
The police charged Ayoade
Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye and Adeola Abraham with criminal conspiracy to
rob the banks, murder of nine policemen and other citizens, and illegal
possession of firearms.
Testifying while being led in
evidence in the trial-within-trial by Mathias Emeribe, their counsel,
Akinnibosun said he was tortured and threatened to make confessional
statements.
Akinnibosun alleged that Abba
Kyari, deputy commissioner of police, also asked him and the other accused
persons to implicate Senate President Bukola Saraki.
“Abba Kyari told me to say that
the Senate President Bukola Saraki gave me the guns for the operations. But I
declined to do contending that my life is at stake,” he said.
”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 the cell. During this
time my hands were tied to my legs.”
Akinnibosun added that he was the
leader of Kwara South Liberation Movement, mobilising young jobless graduates
for Rafiu Ibrahim, senator representing Kwara south district.
”The essence is to secure
government jobs for the boys,” he said.
Akinnibosun, Ogunleye and Ibrahim
gave graphic details of their experience in police custody in Abuja.
They alleged that one Vincent ,
an inspector, allegedly shot dead five men at the police IRT “theatre room”
during one of their encounters.
The trio alleged that it was in
the same “theatre room” that Vincent otherwise known as “Mr Torture”, shot dead
Michael Adikwu, also a suspect, for failing to indict them in the robbery
incident.
Ogunleye said: “They brought the
late Adikwu to implicate us but when he said he had not met any of us in his
life, Mr Torture shot him to death.”
After listening to the accused
persons’ testimony, Halimat Salman, the presiding judge, adjourned the case
till March 25, for continuation of trial.
Hitila Hassan, prosecution
witness, told the court that the suspects voluntarily gave their statements
under his supervision.
Lead prosecuting counsel, sought
to tender the statements as exhibit but defence counsel objected.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com