Abba Kyari, a disgraced Nigerian super-cop allegedly forced one of the suspected armed robbers, who wreaked havoc in Offa town, Kwara State, on April 5, 2018, to implicate Bukola Saraka, Nigeria’s former Senate President.
In a continued trial of the 2018 robbery, Ayoade Akinninbosun, one of the suspects told Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin that Kyari offered him N10 million to indict Saraki in the case.
At the time, Kyari was heading Intelligence Response Team (IRT), a police tactical squad.
In addition to the money, Akinninbosun claimed Kyari promised to give him a visa to any country of his choice if he could implicate Saraki for the robbery.
Reports had it that five suspects — Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham and two others — were charged to court by the police for criminal conspiracy to rob banks, murder of nine policemen and other citizens. They were also accused of illegal possession of firearms.
CONSPIRACY
Duing cross-examination by the Defence Counsel, Mathias Emeribe (SAN), Akinninbosun revealed he was offered N10 million to claim that Saraki asked them to carry out the robbery operation.
According to him, he declined the offer stressing he would not implicate an innocent person.
His words: “He said I should admit and say Saraki was the one who asked us to go and rob. I told him I won’t do that. That I will rather die for what I didn’t do than to lie against an innocent man.
“He asked me to think over his offer very well. At this point he ordered officers Hassan and Moshood to return me to the cell. A separate one different from where others are and they should stop torturing me.”
After declining the offer, Kyari’s boys threatened Akinninbosun following a gruesome murder of some “Fulani” men in his presence.
“We were like 15 to 20 taken to Abuja, I only know a few of them. We were put outside and served meals, but I couldn’t eat because my hands were paralyzed due to the torture I went through in their hands in Ilorin. They asked Kunle Ogunleye to feed me.
“They separated five of us, put us in the generator house and Officer Hassan Attila ordered they brought some men. They went to bring five Fulani men. They brought them and killed them all in my presence.
“I was told that was not a film. He asked me to stretch my legs and shot my right leg. He shot the second leg but when I tried shifting the leg, it hit my tomb,” he added.
Further, Akinninbosun showed his gunshot wound in the courtroom.
Akinninbosun said he eventually agreed to implicate Saraki after the police killed one of the robbery suspects, Micheal Adikwu in his presence.
Following his revelation, Justice Alimat Salman, the presiding judge, adjourned the case till February 13, 2023.
Kyari is currently in Kuje prison facility following his involvement in cybercrime and drug trafficking allegations.
