The
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, saying that their alleged confessional
statements given out to journalists, 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, adding; “The applicants’ counsel were
not allowed to see the applicants even to have a brief interview when they
visited the defendants on July 15, 2015.
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