Offa robbery: ‘How sick armoury officer was killed inside his office while sleeping’

One of the police officers on duty when the ancient Offa town, Kwara State was raided by daredevil armed robbers on April 5, 2018, has said that the officer in charge of the armoury was killed right inside his office while sleeping.

Testifying before the Kwara State High Court on Tuesday at the continuation of hearing on the Offa robbery case, the officer who is the station guard and a sergeant, Sulaiman Mahmoud (PW6), said that the armoury officer, Oke Kayode, was ill and on medication, sleeping in his office, when the robbers struck at about 4:45 pm.

Mahmoud, who said that he lost his AK-47 rifle during the Offa robbery incident, added that the gun dropped while scaling the police station fence to escape superior firepower of the hoodlums.

“I was at the entrance of the police station when I suddenly heard gunshots from Captain Cook junction. I ran into the police station shouting to alert others that armed robbers were approaching our station. I ran for cover shooting to scare the robbers away. Suddenly, my gun got hooked and no one to assist me. I ran into the escape route of the station with my rifle. As I was about scaling the fence, my rifle fell off me and I couldn’t go back to retrieve it as the armed robbers already took over the station. After the shooting subsided, I came back to meet my colleagues crying. I went to the place where my rifle fell off me, but I didn’t see it again,” he said. 

Mahmoud also said during cross-examination by the defence counsel, Mathias Emeribe, that Inspector Kayode Oke was killed in his office while sleeping, as he was on medication for his illness.

The court on Tuesday also ordered the prison authorities to see to the medical complaint of the first accused person in the Offa robbery case, Ayoade Akinnibosun, who the defence counsel said needed medical attention.

The defence counsel had told the court that Akinnibosun was having severe pains on his wrist, ankle and right lap.

The counsel added that Akinnibosun, “had a swell on his right lap close to his scrotum. The pain has been constant, repeated and severe. He needs a thorough medical examination.”

The presiding judge, Justice Halima Saleema, also overruled the objection to the admissibility of the death certificate raised by the defence counsel.

The defence counsel had objected to the admissibility of the document, saying that the documents are not coming from the maker and thus not admissible.

While adjourning the Offa robbery case to December 22, 2020, Justice Saleema agreed to a long adjournment moved by the prosecution counsel, Bola Razaq Gold. 

Gold had said that the police officer, who is the prosecution’s next witness, Danjuma Mohammed Garba, was away in Somalia on a training course and would complete the programme on December 15, 2020.

The prosecution counsel had said that the video recordings and CCTV shots of the Offa robbery incident in the affected banks ought to be played and analyzed in court by Garba before any other witness would give evidence.

“Without tendering that documentary evidence through him, our other witnesses would not be able to give evidence,” he said.

All the accused: Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salahudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran were present in court on Tuesday.

 

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