Kwara court reserves judgment in Offa robbery case

Justice Haleema Salman of the Kwara State High Court has reserved judgment in the April 5, 2018 bank robbery recorded in Offa, Offa Local Government Area of the state.

Justice Salman reserved judgment in the six-year trial of six suspects in the bloody bank robbery till August 2, 2024.

Thirty-three people, including nine policemen, were killed in the incident which involved five commercial banks while an undisclosed sum of money was stolen from the banks.

The presiding judge on Monday adopted final written addresses which contained arguments of the two lead counsel in the matter, Rotimi Jacob (SAN) for the state and Mathias Emeribe, the defence counsel.

During the Monday trial, the prosecution and defence teams adopted their written addresses one after the other on point of law which were placed before the court.

However, the presiding judge said that the August 2, 2024 date for judgment is tentative.

It is recalled that six suspects: a policeman, Michael Adikwu (deceased), Ayoade Akinnibosun, Azeez Salahudeen, Niyi Ogundiran, Ibikunle Ogunleye and Adeola Abraham were arrested in connection with the bloody armed robbery incident.

Ayoade Akinnibosun and four others are currently standing trial in the case which began on November 11, 2018.

The five suspects, Ayoade 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.

Michael Adikwu died in police custody while the remaining five pleaded not guilty.

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