Segun Atanda/
Police have declared that the alleged gang leader of the Offa Bank Robbers, Michael Adikwu, who died in custody was not among the suspects that have been linked with some prominent politicians in the country.
Adikwu, who was a dismissed police constable, reportedly fell ill and died while awaiting the commencement of the trial of all suspects arrested in connection with the robbery in which over 30 persons including 22 policemen were killed.
The death of Adikwu was made public yesterday when the trial of the suspects began at an Ilorin High Court.
The reaction by the police was an apparent response to the claims yesterday by the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, that Adikwu was deliberately murdered in order to implicate him and the Kwara State governor, Abdufattah Ahmed, in the crime.
Saraki in a statement by his media adviser, Yusuph Olaniyonu, had also called for an independent enquiry into the handling of the investigation by the police.
But the head of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Squad (IRT) which investigated the robbery, Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, countered the assumption of the Senate President in a post on his Facebook wall today.
Kyari’s post reads: “This Offa Bank Robber/Dismissed Police Michael Adigun we arrested as Shown below clearly Captured by the Bank CCTV Camera, Confessed to having personally killed 22 Innocent Citizens on the day of Offa Bank Robbery is not among the 5 Gang members Equally Arrested Who Publicly confessed before the Media to be Political Thugs to the Prominent Politician.
“Notwithstanding that he confessed to having Personally killed 22 innocent Citizens on the day of the Offa Bank Robberies and the fact that he was previously charged to court for Armed robbery and was granted bail by the Court before he masterminded the Offa bank Robberies, We Still intended Charging him to court again before he got Sick and died.
“Pls Nigerians Should be Aware that Offa Bank Robber Micheal Adigun is not Among the 5 that Publicly Confessed to be Political Thugs and all those 5 are alive and Charged to Court already. It’s important to Clarify because Some Politicians are trying to twist the story to show that the Robber than Mentioned them is death to Discredit the Efforts And Sacrifices we made in Arresting these Deadly Offa Bank Robbers.”
NewsmakersNG recalls that police investigation had uncovered a close link between some of the arrested suspects and prominent Kwara politicians, including Saraki and Governor Ahmed.
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