By Peter Omopo
The Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, has upheld the death sentences imposed on five men convicted for their roles in the 2018 Offa bank robbery, dismissing their appeals for lacking merit.
In a unanimous judgment delivered virtually via Zoom on Friday, the appellate court affirmed the decision of the Kwara State High Court, which sentenced the convicts to death by hanging for their involvement in the deadly attack.
The panel, comprising Justice Ridwan Maiwada Abdullahi, Justice Gabriel Kolawole and Justice Abdul Dogo, held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and found no basis to interfere with the lower court’s verdict.
The convicts are Niyi Ogundiran, Salawu Azeez, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Ayoade Akinnibosun and Adeola Abraham.
Confirming the ruling, the Kwara State Director of Public Prosecution, Mohammed Akande, said the Court of Appeal upheld both the convictions and sentences earlier handed down by Justice Haleemah Saleeman of the Kwara State High Court. He added that all grounds of appeal filed by the convicts were dismissed, and the men were ordered to be returned immediately to prison custody.
The five were found guilty of armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms and culpable homicide. A sixth suspect, Michael Adikwu, a retired police officer, reportedly died in custody before the trial commenced.
The convictions arose from the April 2018 coordinated bank robbery in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, during which five commercial banks were attacked. At least 32 people, including nine police officers—two of them female—were killed in the incident, making it one of the deadliest bank robberies in Nigeria’s history.
Justice Saleeman had earlier sentenced the convicts to death by hanging after a trial that lasted nearly six years and attracted nationwide attention. She also imposed additional three-year jail terms on the convicts for illegal possession of firearms.
