Connect with us

Metro

How suspected armed robbers killed 17 in Offa bank robbery —Police

Published

on

A former Divisional Police Officer in Offa, Kwara State, Adamu Danjuma, told the State High Court on Monday how 17 people were killed in a bank robbery in the area in 2018.

Dare-devil armed robbers had on April 5, 2018, killed nine policemen and eight civilians during an attack on commercial banks in Offa.

Five suspects were later arrested by policemen and arraigned for conspiracy, armed robbery, possession of firearms and ammunition and murder.

The suspects are – Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salahudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran.

Danjuma, who testified at the resumed trial of the suspects, told Justice Haleema Saleeman that 21 AK47 rifles were stolen from the armoury of the Offa police station during the robbery operation.

The DPO also revealed how he escaped death in the robbery attack.

He added that the suspects destroyed the police Armoury and used explosive to attack banks.

He also revealed that one suspect and two witnesses were killed by the armed robbers during the attack on the police station.

Danjuma said: “On the said date, at about 4:45 p.m. I heard a gunshot from the direction of Captain Cook Eatery Junction in the town. Two minutes later I heard sporadic shootings from that direction heading towards my police station. Immediately, I came out of my office to the charge room (counter). The shootings were approaching the station.

READ ALSO: Offa robbery suspect tells court how police killed Adikwu, asked him to implicate Saraki

“In response, I also fired gunshots into the air from my pistol. As a result, there was a temporary stoppage of shooting from outside. Suddenly, the shooting started coming in from different directions towards the station. A lady who was manning the pedestrian gate was shot in one of her arms making her to abandon the place and ran for her dear life. The shooting continued.

“Thereafter, the robbers released explosive into the security tower of the station. Another explosive was released and it hit the main road and bored deep hole on the road. This melee disorganised the whole station. Then, the ammunition in my pistol had been exhausted. This made me to run for cover at the back of the station’s mosque.

“At the back of the mosque, I sighted three of the armed robbers chasing ASP Julius Pelemo to the back of the station’s fence. Then, I heard the shout of the late Julius after a gunshot. I heard one of the robbers calling those that ran after the late ASP to come over to the charge room (counter). One of them entered the Surveillance Office and shot dead a policewoman. Two of them ran to the charge room (counter).

“I now changed my position to the toilet near the back of the fence. At that place, I was able to communicate with the state commissioner of police, deputy commissioner, operations and the command’s spokesperson seeking for reinforcement. While this was happening, simultaneously, I was hearing gunshots at the banks’ direction in the town. I was also hearing explosions and accompanying flames around the bank’s area.

“At an interval of between five and 10 minutes, I would hear shootings from the charge room, making it impossible for me to come out of the toilet. After a while, I heard shouts from the town that ‘olee they don go.’

“From the toilet, I headed straight to the charge room and then to the armoury to see the level of damage. When I entered the armoury I discovered that they had broken the armoury key. I went to my office and took my office padlock to lock the armoury.

“While I was planning to take remains of the dead persons to the mortuary, the Administrative Officer of Mopol came into the station with two police officers who were shot dead at their duty post in the banks. In addition, other people brought in corpses of civilians killed by the robbers.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now