The Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, has upheld the death sentence passed on five men convicted over the deadly 2018 Offa bank robbery that claimed 33 lives.

Delivering judgment on Friday, a three-man panel of the appellate court dismissed all the grounds of appeal filed by the convicts, thereby affirming the 2024 judgment of the Kwara State High Court which found them guilty of armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms and culpable homicide.

The court consequently ordered that the convicts be returned to prison custody to continue serving their sentence.

The condemned persons are Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salahudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the appeal court held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and that the trial court properly evaluated the evidence presented before arriving at its verdict.

Background

The convicts were accused of participating in coordinated attacks on several commercial banks and a police station in Offa, Kwara State, on April 5, 2018. The incident resulted in the death of 33 persons, including a pregnant woman and 12 police officers.

In September 2024, Justice Haleema Salman of the Kwara State High Court sentenced the five men to death after finding them culpable.

During the trial, Akinnibosun, who identified himself as the ringleader, confessed to planning the operation after being introduced to the idea by Michael Adikwu, a dismissed police officer who is now deceased.

He further told the court that he recruited the other four convicts to execute the robbery and provided the two vehicles used in carrying out the attacks.

Akinnibosun also admitted to killing two persons who attempted to escape during the operation near the entrance of a police station.

The appeal court’s ruling brings to an end years of legal proceedings arising from one of the deadliest bank robbery incidents in Nigeria’s recent history.