One of the principal suspects in the resumed trial of the Offa bank robbery case, Ayoade Akinnibosun, on Wednesday told a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin how the former Commander, Inspector General Response Team squad, ACP Abba Kyari, tortured and promised to give him N10 million and other things to implicate former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in the armed robbery case.
Besides, he said that Kyari promised to give him a visa to any country of his choice if he supported the move to implicate Saraki, but said that he turned down the offers.
Five suspects, Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salaudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran were charged to court by the police for criminal conspiracy to rob the bank, illegal possession of firearms, murder of nine policemen and other citizens.
During the incident, about 11 persons were feared killed while other residents sustained serious injuries.
Led in evidence by the Defence Counsel, Mathias Emeribe (SAN), Akinnibosun said he was offered N10 million to claim that Saraki asked them to carry out the robbery operation.
According to him, “He (Kyari) 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 would rather die for what I didn’t do than lie against an innocent man.
“He asked me to think over his offer very well. At this point, he ordered two police officers: Hassan and Mashood to return me to the cell. A separate one different from where others are and they should stop torturing me,” he said.
Akinnibosun said he was not allowed to write any statement in Ilorin except his biodata until they were conveyed to Abuja in a tinted bus, where he was later kept in a place called “Abattoir”.
There, the suspect said, some herdsmen were killed in his presence, adding that he was mercilessly tortured and shot in the leg in order to implicate Saraki.
“We were like 15 to 20 taken to Abuja, I only know a few of them. We were put outside and served meals, but I couldn’t eat because my hands were paralyzed 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 and Officer Hassan Attila ordered they brought some men. They went to bring five Fulani men. They brought them and killed them all in my presence.
“I was told, that was not a film. He asked me to stretch my legs and shot my right leg. He shot the second leg but when I tried shifting the leg, it hit my thumb,” he said.
The defendant then went ahead to show the court the gunshot wound sustained on his legs.
Akinnibosun added that one of the robbery suspects, Micheal 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.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Halimat Salman adjourned the case till the 13th of February, 2023 for the continuation of hearing.
(Punch)
