Offa bank robbery: Indigenes fault court judgement

Indigenes of Offa in Kwara State have described as unsatisfactory and unthorough the recent court judgement directing the death by hanging of the five culprits involved in the infamous Offa bank robbery of April 2018.

During the Offa bank robbery, 33 people, including nine policemen and pregnant women, were killed.

The group, under the aegis of Offa Descendants Union (O.D.U.) on Thursday at a press conference in Offa, called on the prosecutor (state government) to revisit the case so that all the names and personalities mentioned during the police investigation could be involved in the judgement.

The chairman of O.D.U. Offa, Chief Tajudeen ‘Lanre Shittu, said: “As much as we appreciate the conviction of the suspects, Offa as a community has reservations for the way the investigation was handled by the police as though it pleases us that the culprits would not go unpunished.

“We are aware that they have their rights to appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria, but we will never relent to pursue any attempt made by evildoers and ensure that full justice is achieved on the heartless souls, including those who had links with them during the course of the investigation. This is a major concern to our community and a very important cause we have resolved to pursue to a logical conclusion.

“More so, the Offa community would like the investigation to be extended further in the following regards: to identify and unravel the people who supplied the vehicle used for the robbery and the people mentioned during the course of the investigation.

“From the above two germane points, we hereby state categorically that the Offa community remains only grateful but unassuaged and unsatisfied with the way the police ended the investigation, as we, as a community, consider the investigation leading to the judgement as inconclusive and an attempt to cover and protect the names of those who were identified by the robbers during the investigation,” O.D.U. expressed.

Consequently, the group urged the revisit of the case, saying: “We therefore vehemently call for further and thorough investigation and arrest of those who provided logistics to the robbers.

“All the names mentioned by the convicted persons should be investigated thoroughly for proper justice to be served,” it said.

It added: “We, therefore, call on the Kwara State Government to revisit the incident through the holistic probing of all the factors, notions, and personalities, so as to remove the public impression and conclusion that the said Nigeria Police investigation of the April 2018 Offa Bank Robbery is incomplete. This is Offa Community’s Unnegotiable Demand and Prayers.”

It would be recalled that on April 5, 2018, the Offa community witnessed a gruesome massacre of 33 people, including police and civilians.

On the sad occasion, all the commercial banks except two were attacked and millions of naira and assets were stolen.

In the same vein, the Offa Divisional Police, being the first point of attack, had its armoury looted and had all its officers on duty killed in the swift operations.

As part of its efforts, the community resolved to upscale the security apparatus in support of the conventional security agencies by building and donating a multimillion Naira Mobile Police (MOPOL) barracks in less than six months, using the community’s special project vehicle, Offa Security Trust Fund. Vehicles were also provided for all the security agencies in the community.

Six years after the gory incident, the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Thursday, September 26, 2024, delivered a landmark judgement in which all five suspects standing trial for the 2018 massacre of Offa indigenes and citizens were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.