Offa Robbery: Case Stalled Due To Witness Absence

The case of the Offa bank robbery before a Kwara High Court, Ilorin, was on Tuesday stalled following the absence of a principal witness for the prosecuting team.

The court was informed by the leader of the prosecution team, Razaq Gold, that the continuation of the hearing would not be able to hold because his witness is absent on national assignment since January 25.

Gold noted that the police officer who was expected to testify in court on Tuesday had been deployed for election re-run duty.

He called on the court to adjourn the continuation of hearing due to the absence of the police officer.

Recall that a robbery attack was carried out in four commercial banks which saw 30 people killed including police officers at Offa LGA.

The defendants standing trial before the court are Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salaudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran.

The defendant’s counsel, Matrix Emeribe, said he had no objection to the submission of the prosecution as national security comes first over any other issue.

Justice Halimah Salman charged the counsels to be prepared to bring their witnesses to court in the next sitting.

The judge warned that she would not tolerate any further delay on the matter, adding that the case had been on “trial within a trial” since April 2018.

She, therefore, adjourned the case till Feb. 10 for the continuation of hearing.