Abuja court refuses to grant Kwara governor's chief of staff bail over his role in Offa robbery

GOVERNOR Abdulfatai Ahmed of Kwara State's chief of staff Yusuf Abdulwahab has been remanded in custody over his role in the Offa bank robbery after an Abuja federal high court rejected his application for bail.

Mr Abdulwahab is one of the suspects being held in connection with the April 5 brutal bank robbery in Offa that left 33 peoples dead. One of the most violent robberies ever in Nigeria, the attack was military in nature, with the hoodlums first of all attacking the town's police station, killing nine policemen, ransacking their armoury and then proceeding to attack several banks where it unleashed mayhem, killing pregnant women among others.

Given the ferocity of the attack, the police swung into action, arresting dozens of the robbers and under interrogation, some of them have confessed that they were originally hired by Governor Ahmed and his predecessor Bukola Saraki, the current senate president. It appears that they were hired as political thugs, arming them and used to harass opponents but the hoodlums then decided to take things further by graduating to bank robbery.

Following their arrest, the robbers were even found to have used a car belong to Senator Saraki and they were found to have been well connected to the Kwara State government. This led to the arrest of Mr Abdulwahab but he has since filed for bail and when he hearing came up yesterday, Justice Babatunde Quadri rejected the application on the grounds that the subject matter of the case was outside the jurisdiction of his court.

However, the judge ordered the transfer of the case to the High Court of Kwara State, which he said had the jurisdiction to hear and determine the case. Mr Abdulwahab's lawyer Adebayo Adelodun, complained to the judge that despite being served with the motion as ordered by the court, the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris refused to respond.

Mr Adelodun explained that Mr Abdulwahab only honoured a police invitation in relation to his alleged link with suspects who carried out the Offa bank robberies but was detained. In his application, Mr Abdulwahab had filed the suit via an ex parte motion marked praying for an order granting him bail from police custody.