Africa Press-Nigeria:
A suspect in the bloody April 5, 2018 Offa bank robbery, in Kwara State, Salahudeen Azeez, on Friday gave a gory account of how six suspects were allegedly killed in his presence by policemen in Abuja.
DAILY POST reports that scores of suspects allegedly involved in the robbery were rounded up by the IG’s rapid response team, led by Abba Kyari and moved to Abuja, but were brought back to Kwara State for trial.
However, only five of the suspects are currently facing trial in a Kwara State high court sitting in Ilorin and presided over by Justice Haleemat Salman.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of policemen in Abuja, Azeez told the court that the six suspects were killed in his presence to compel him to admit his alleged involvement in the bloody bank robbery at Offa where over 30 people including policemen were reportedly killed.
Defence counsel to the accused, Mathias Eberebe, however, prayed the court to order the exhumation of the principal suspect in the robbery, Michael Adikwu who allegedly died in police custody in Abuja.
He argued that “this was necessary to determine whether the cause of Adikwu’s death was natural or otherwise”.
Eberebe said “attempts by the prosecution to impress it on the court that there are only five suspects in the case amounts to suppression of facts.”
He recalled that when the case first came up in October 2018, ‘six suspects were listed on the charge sheet, including Michael Adikwu who the police later claimed died in their custody.”
According to Azeez’s account, “one Inspector Vincent killed Michael Adikwu in my presence,” and “they forced me to thumbprint a statement already prepared by the police against my consent.”
