Offa Bank Robbery: Abba Kyari Denies Offering N10m, Visa To Suspect To Implicate Saraki

The suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari on Thursday, debunked the testimony of a principal suspect in the Offa Bank Robbery incident in 2018, Ayoade Akinrinbosun, who told the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Wednesday that he allegedly offered him N10m to implicate former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in the case.

The Offa bank robbery attack which happened in 2018 shooked the state and also resulted in the death of over 17 persons including policemen.

They were eventually apprehended by the police when Kyari was heading the Intelligence Team of the police and were arraigned on a three-count charge bordering on Criminal Conspiracy, Armed Robbery and Culpable Homicide.

The matter is ongoing.

On Wednesday, Akinrinbosun claimed that he refused money inducement and visa from Kyari, adding he could not lie against Saraki.

“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,” the suspect said.

But in a rebuttal on Thursday , one of Kyari’s counsels, Hamza Nuhu Dantani, in a statement on Thursday described the suspect’s testimony in open court as a lie and a backtrack on earlier confessions.

He added that the Offa Bank robbers voluntarily confessed that they were political thugs of Saraki, adding that when they were probed by the police they equally confessed that Saraki was not aware of the bank robbery.

“That is a fat lie. One can easily ask, where would Kyari get that kind of money to dash an Armed Robber in Custody when his salary and allowances for 3 years is not up to N10 million?

“If Kyari and his team did not have conscience, they could have easily coerced Akinrinbosun to sign a written false statement implicating anyone or by simply promising him soft landing but it is unethical and could not have stood in the face of probity in court of law.

“Kyari with his many years of experience did not at any time coerce or force anyone to implicate anybody no matter how highly placed.

“Rather, he discharged his responsibility based on laid down laws, rules of engagement and police service rules.

“They confessed that one of the Lexus jeeps used during the robbery incident was a dash from Saraki.

“These were the findings of the police investigation. All those involved in the Offa bank robbery were subsequently charged to court while some other
suspects that were discovered not to be involved were released,” the lawyer wrote.

The lawyer accused Saraki of having lots of followers and political thugs just like other Nigerian politicians.

His rebuttal partly reads, “If the Police wanted to force the bank robbers to say something different, it could have been done easily by any Police officer without conscience by offering the armed robbers soft landing because that is what armed robbers, kidnappers, murderers and terrorists want from the police not money.

“It’s very laughable to attempt to clutch at straws to hear an armed robber in custody saying Police offered him 10 million to indict somebody, a bank robber that you charged to court after investigation. Does that make sense?

“Again, Kyari and his team arrested these Offa bank robbers that killed 31 innocent Nigerians by using the CCTV footage of the Banks that captured the robbers in the act, for that, is there anybody these robbers will hate in this world more than Abba Kyari?

“So, it is not a surprise that they have begun to lie against him by saying many things that are not true the usual way armed robbers lie in court to claim they are innocent. Evans the kidnapper and many other convicted armed robbers and kidnappers have said many of such lies in court all in their bids to be exonerated.”