The police have said the death in custody of a leader of the Offa bank robbery gang, Michael Adikwu, will not affect the outcome of the case.
The force stated that the evidence of the other gang leaders were enough to prosecute Senate President Bukola Saraki.
The police had arraigned the gang leaders – Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran – at a Kwara State High Court for involvement in the April, 2018 bank robberies during which over 31 persons, including nine policemen, were killed.
The police spokesman, Moshood Jimoh, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, explained that Adikwu, 30, was not murdered, “but slumped and died in detention.”
Jimoh said, “It is important for the public to know that Adikwu was not among the five gang leaders that indicted and implicated the Senate President; therefore, his death cannot vindicate Senator Bukola Saraki. There is a post-mortem examination result in respect of the death of Adikwu.
“Evidence from the five suspects now in court is enough to prosecute the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki,” he added.
The police insisted that investigation had revealed that the men who carried out the robberies in Offa in April, 2018, were Saraki’s political thugs, adding that the accused admitted that they attended the Senate President daughter’s wedding in Abuja.
The force spokesman dismissed a statement by the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Senate President, Mr Yusuf Olaniyonu, that the case against Saraki was politically motivated.