Abba Kyari forced me to implicate Saraki in Offa robbery – Suspect

Bukola Saraki

One of the suspects in the April 5 bank robbery in Offa, Kwara State, has revealed that he was coerced by the police into indicting Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

The suspect, Friday Akininibosin, made this revelation on Friday in a High Court in Ilorin, capital of Kwara State.

“My hands and legs were tied to the back and suspended in between two tables by iron rod for like one hour 30 minutes. Then the senior police officer, Abba Kyari, came around to tell me that I should say that it was the Senate president that gave us guns to rob Offa banks.

“I told him my life is at stake here and that I wouldn’t do such. Then, he said I should do that for them and that they’ll pay me and thereafter set me free. I disagreed and was carried back to the cell on his instruction as I couldn’t walk,” Mr Akininibosin said.

Akininibosin, who is facing trial with four others for the robbery, also accused the police of killing a former police officer allegedly involved in the robbery, Michael Adikwu, after he refused to play along with the alleged plan.

Akininibosin continued: “I panicked, thinking I was next to die. Later, a female TV journalist was brought by a police officer with a note, saying that was what they wanted me to say, and that if not, I will ‘travel’, meaning, I would be killed.

“That was how I agreed in the presence of the female journalist, who recorded while I was also beaten at interval.”

No less than 17 people were killed in the April 5 robbery in Offa.