Offa Community Split Over Kwara High Court Ruling on 2018 Bank Robbery
The recent judgment of the Kwara State High Court regarding the 2018 Offa banks robbery has left the community divided. After a six-year trial, Justice Haleema Salman last week sentenced the remaining five suspects involved in the robbery to death by hanging. The convicts—Ayoade Akinnibosun, Azeez Salahudeen, Niyi Ogundiran, Ibikunle Ogunleye, and Adeola Abraham—were found guilty of the brutal attack that claimed the lives of 32 people, including nine policemen.
The ruling, however, has sparked differing opinions within the Offa community. On Thursday, the home branch of the Offa Descendants' Union (ODU) urged the Kwara State Government to revisit the case, raising concerns about the judgment.
The Offa robbery, which occurred on April 5, 2018, shocked the nation due to the sheer scale of the violence and loss of life, and the recent court ruling has revived emotional reactions from different quarters of the community.
Addressing journalists in Offa, the chairman of the union, Chief Tajudeen Lanre Shittu, said though the community welcomed the judgement, it expressed reservations 'that many questions have not been answered'.
They called on the state government to expedite action on the execution of the judgement.
'There is the need for a holistic probing of all the factors, notions and personalities, so as to remove the public impression that the Nigeria Police investigation on the incident is incomplete and certain individuals are being covered up.
“The community is unsatisfied with how the police command handled the investigation and expressed reservations. Those who supplied the vehicle used for the robbery and all those mentioned during the course of trial should be investigated”.
But in a statement last night, some 'leaders of thought and indigenes under the aegis of Offa Koya, Offa Kowosi, dismissed the position of the home branch, adding that it was politically motivated
They accused the ODU home branch chairman of using the community's name for cheap politics.
When contacted last night, the national secretary of national branch of the ODU, Mrs Wosilat McCarthy, said Shittu cannot be speaking for the ODU.
Cloud Tag: What's trending
Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.
Ministry Of Women Affairs And Social Development Fulani Usman Yunusa Elerin Of Adanla Frootify Gabriel Fashanu AbdulRasaq Abdulmajeed Alaro 20 Billion Bond New Model Police Station Folaranmi Aro Umar Ahmed Gunu Hameed Oladipupo Ali Olatunji Ayeni Adamu Attah Goodluck Jonathan Offa Grammer School Onikijipa Folajimi Aleshinloye Aishat Mohammed Lawal Ezekiel Yissa Benjamin Ibrahim Oniye Saidu Yaro Musa Olupako Kishira Ibrahim Taiwo Road Harmony Holdings Haliru Dantoro Oba Sulaiman Asude Abubakar B.M Shehu Salau Olugbense Quareeb Islamic Association Tayo Alao Rihanat Ajia Toyosi Thomas Idris Amosa Saidu YAKOOYO Ayinde Oyepitan Aremu Bose Deborah Abdulfatai Baakini National Association Of Nigerian Students Village Alive Development Association Seun Bolaji Yusuf Lanre Badmas Overland Abdullahi Adisa Akodudu Solomon Edojah Idi-Ape Kwara State Pension Board Coalition Of Kwara North Groups Moses Rahman Popoola Ahmed \'Lateef Alabe Kola Olota Rice Farmers Association Of Nigeria Muslim Stakeholders Of Kwara State Samuel Adedoyin Dauda Adesola Susan Modupe Oluwole Firdaos Amasa Ilofa Theophilus Oyebiyi Musa Abdullahi NITDA Abdulrasheed Akogun Sobi Bello John Olanrewaju Cornelius Adebayo Kunle Okeowo Afonja Descendants Union Akeem Lawal NTA Ilorin Oloje Kwara State Fish Farmers Association Suleiman Ajadi Toyin Saraki Kpotum Mohammed Baba

