Suspects of the Ikorodu bank robbery
Four suspects paraded in connection with the recent bank robbery in Ikorodu, Lagos State, have dragged the Inspector General of Police before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.
Accordng to the suspects, their alleged confessional statements given out to newsmen, was extracted from them behind their lawyer.
The four suspects had reportedly confessed to playing different roles in the robbery while three Sport Utility Vehicles allegedly bought from the proceeds of the robbery were recovered from them.
The suspects – Agbojule Bright, Promise Abiwa, Monday Omoboye and Monday Ikuesan, were on July 6, 2015, paraded by the police in connection with the robbery of the Ipakodo branches of First and Zenith Banks in Ikorodu, where an 18-man gang, which they allegedly belonged to, made away with about N80 million on June 24, 2015.
In their fundamental rights enforcement suit filed before Justice Mohammed Yunusa, counsel, Akanbi, claimed that the police violated the right of the suspects to remain silent or to avoid answering any questions until consultation with a legal practitioner or any person of their choice as stipulated by Section 35(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
Akanbi in the suit said that the suspects “made confessional statements to newsmen under duress,” arguing that the police had no right to parade the suspects to be interviewed by the press “unless such a suspect wishes to give interview after the matter has been charged to a court of competent jurisdiction.”
According to him, the suspects might not be able to get fair trial in court since they have “already suffered prejudice in the eye of the public due to unfair publicity and unprofessional acts of the defendants.”
He claimed that the police had neither allowed him nor the family members of the suspects to see them since their arrest.