ONE of the principal suspects in the resumed trial of Offa bank robbery case at the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin, Ayoade Akinnibosun, on Wednesday, January 18, told the court how the former commander of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) squad, Mr. Abba Kyari, offered him N10million to implicate former senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in the armed robbery case.
Besides, the suspect said Kyari promised to give him a visa to any country of his choice if he implicated Saraki, which he said he turned down.
Five suspects, Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham and two others were charged to court by the Police for criminal conspiracy to rob the banks, murder of nine policemen and other citizens and illegal possession of firearms.
It is recalled that about 10 persons were killed in the incident, while other residents of Offa sustained serious injuries.
However, during cross examination at the court by the defence Counsel, Mr. Mathias Emeribe (SAN), Akinnibosun said he was offered N10million to claim that Saraki asked them to carry out the bloody robbery operation.
“He said I should admit and say Saraki was the one who asked us to go and rob. I told him I won’t do that; that I will rather die for what I didn’t do than to lie against an innocent man.
“He asked me to think over his offer very well. At this point, he ordered officers Hassan and Mashood to return me to the cell, a separate one different from where others are and that they should stop torturing me,” he said.
The suspect stated that he was not allowed to write any statement in Ilorin, except his bio data, until they were conveyed to Abuja in a tinted bus, where he was later kept in a place called “abattoir.”
There, he said he was mercilessly tortured and shot in the leg in order to implicate Saraki, maintaining that Saraki has nothing to do with the robbery case.
“We were like 15 to 20 taken to Abuja. I only know few of them. We were put outside and served meals, but I couldn’t eat, because my hands were paralysed due to the torture I went through in their hands in Ilorin. They asked Kunle Ogunleye to feed me. They separated five of us, put us in the generator house.
“I was asked me to stretch my legs and they shot my right leg. He shot the second leg, but when I tried shifting the leg, it hit my tomb,” he said.
The defendant then went ahead to show the gunshot wound on his legs to the court, adding that one of the robbery suspects, Michael Adikwu, was shot dead in his presence, a situation that got him terrified and made him agree to implicate Saraki in a prepared statement before the press.
The presiding Judge, Justice Alimat Salman, thereafter adjourned the case until February 13, 2023.
