Six years after, 5 Offa robbery suspects get death sentence

A high court in Kwara has convicted five to death over the Offa robbery. 

In the judgment delivered on Thursday, Haleema Salman, presiding judge, sentenced Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salahudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran to death.

The robbery, which took place on April 5, 2018, resulted in 33 fatalities. Among those killed were a pregnant woman and 12 police officers.

The audacious bank heist in Offa, a rustic Kwara commercial hub, shook an entire nation and dominated public discourse for several months.

The convicts were found guilty of illegal possession of firearms, armed robbery, and culpable homicide.

The judge stated that the offences are punishable by death.

During the trial, Akinnibosun, who claimed to be the ring leader, narrated how late Michael Adikwu, a dismissed police officer, sold the robbery idea to him.

He added that he in turn recruited four other accomplices to carry out the robbery, adding that he owned the two vehicles used during the incident.

Akinnibosun told the court that he killed two people who were trying to escape — at the entrance of a police station.

In a video evidence presented in court, Abraham, Salawu and Ogundiran confessed to shooting nine persons in a bid to escape lynching from eyewitnesses and the public.