Former SARS officer, Adikwu, killed 22 people during operation

Nine police officers and 24 others lost their lives when a group of at least 30 armed robbers attacked Union Bank, Eco Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank, Zenith Bank and Ibolo Micro Finance Bank,as well as the Owode Police Station in Offa on April 5, 2018.

Adikwu is one of the 22 suspects who have been arrested in connection to the incident and has been identified as the man that provided the gang with firearms for the operation.

Even though he was not among the suspects that were paraded before journalists on Sunday, June 3, 2018, Force Public Relations Officer, ACPJimoh Moshood, disclosed that Adikwu killed 22 people during the operation.

Adikwu was attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Kwara state command before he was dismissed in 2012 for aiding the escape of some robbery suspects. He was arraigned in court and spent about three years in prison before he made his way out in unclear circumstances.

According to confessions from other suspects, Adikwu led the attack on the police station to kill police officers.

Fellow suspect, Ibikunle Ogunleye, aka Arrow, had previously told police officers that Adikwu led a team of four to the station and single-handedly killed all the nine officers that were victims of the attack.

Ogunleyeis quoted to have said, "I was among the three people that entered the police station with Adikwu, but I didn't shoot or kill anyone. It was Adikwu that shot and killed all the policemen. He went from one office to the other, killing everyone. We only gave him cover."

Adikwu was also reported to have gone to each bank that was robbed to bark orders at his comrades and kill more people.

While speaking to journalists on Sunday, Ogunleye said it was pressure from Adikwu that led him to kill two people during the operation.

He said, "The two people I killed was out of fear because I was being disturbed when the whole thing was going on."

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Adikwu supplied guns for Offa robbery

37-year-old Ayoade Akinnibosun, who has been identified to be the man that coordinated the operation, also confessed that Adikwu provided the gang some of the firearms used for the robbery.

He said, "That fateful day, it was me, this man sitting beside me here (Ogunleye), Adex, Stand Well Well, and Niyi; it was the five of us. I came to join them at Ajase then we took off with a Mercedes Benz to Offa.

"On getting there I now positioned everybody; me I stood at that junction, that Total filling station there. On getting to that filling station, we now met that Michael, that dismissed police officer. On getting to meet Michael, Michael came down from one Audi, there was a Nissan parked in front of us, he now came out of that Audi and threw his hands we now saw him and parked at the back of that Nissan. He now came out and brought guns out of that Nissan, five AK-47s, and gave it to us. Then I shared it between the five of us inside our Benz."

Ogunleye also disclosed that it was Adikwu who trained the group in the use of firearms at Ajase-Ipo, Kwara, a day to the robbery.

Adikwu was bitter over dismissal from police force

Adikwu's reason for leading the charge on the police station has been attributed to his bitterness over how he was dismissed from the police force, making him vow to kill as many officers as possible.

Ogunleye said he was loudly proclaiming his resentment for the force while the Offa robbery operation was going on.

He said, "The dismissed police officer, Michael (Adikwu), was shouting that day that the Nigerian police dismissed him, that they collect job from his hand, that he'll do them shege. That was the language he used."

Before Ogunleye's statement, an earlier report had disclosed that Adikwu himself told operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Teams (IRT) that he deliberately killed police officers during the operation as an outlet for his bitterness at being dismissed from the force.

A source told The Punch that even though he's in detention, Adikwu has been threatening to kill even more police officers if given the opportunity.