Azeez gave graphic details of how he was being tortured in “Generator house” at police headquarters in Abuja with tyre hung on his neck and his two hands tied to the back, and his body was hung within two main planks amid heavy beating before they shot dead six persons in his presence.
All the accused; Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salahudeen Azeez, and Niyi Ogundiran were present in court yesterday.
Salawu who denied the statement credited to him said that the policemen interrogating him did that purposely to coerce him to admit his alleged participation in the bank robbery attacks in Offa, where 18 people, including policemen, were reportedly killed.
This is even as defense counsel, Mathias Emeribe, prayed the court to order the exhumation of the corpse of a principal suspect in the robbery, Michael Adikwu, who allegedly died in police custody in Abuja in order to confirm the cause of his death.
This, he said, is necessary to determine whether the cause of Adikwu’s death is natural or otherwise.
He said that attempts by the prosecution to impress it on the court that there are only five suspects in the case amount to suppression of facts.
Emeribe recalled that when the case first came up in October 2018, six suspects were listed on the charge sheet, including Michael Adikwu, who the police later claimed to have died in their custody.
“Suppression of fact is a fundamental issue in criminal law that should not be swept under carpet” He A male child has been recovered dead, while six adults have been rescued alive after a three-storey building collapsed in Lagos Island.
They shot dead the five persons in my presence. They also shot Akinnibosun, Adeola, and Ogunleye on the legs in my presence. They threatened to kill me but I started begging that I didn’t do anything wrong.
“They said I and Ogunleye robbed at Offa and I denied this but they insisted. They beat me mercilessly inside a generator house, otherwise called theatre. It’s a lie that they interrogated me in a conducive environment.
“On the second day, I was brought out again from the cell. They showed a man to me and asked me whether I know him. The man is Michael Adikwu. I said I don’t know him. They also asked him whether he knows me but he replied no. They killed him in my presence.
“I pleaded with them not to kill me because my children are still young. They tied me down and hanged me again. I then asked them what they wanted from me when the torture became unbearable”, he said.
Salawu further claimed that he was forced to thumbprint a statement already prepared by the police against his consent.
The prosecution counsel, Abdulwahab Egbewole (SAN), said that contradictions in the dates when the suspects claimed they were interrogated and the police records showed that they were only cooking up stories about their alleged torture and coercion.
He, therefore, urged the court to admit the confessional statements by the suspects.
The judge, Justice Halimat Salman adjourned the case till July 22, when the main trial will commence.
