Ikorodu robbery suspects sue IGP; say they were forced to make false statements

The four armed robbery suspects arrested in July in connection with the Ikorodu Bank robbery which occurred on June 24th, have dragged the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase before a Federal High Court in Lagos over claims that they were forced to confess to being part of an 18-man armed robbery gang that attacked the banks.

The four men were paraded before newsmen on July 6th where they confessed to being involved in the robbery attack. The court paper which has been filed before Justice Mohammed Yunusa through their lawyer, A Akanbi, states that they made confessional statement to newsmen under duress.

He argued 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.

Their counsel also alleges that the police have denied him and the family members of the suspects access to see them since their arrest

"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. The applicants’ constitutional rights under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution are at stake because the defendants have already taken a bias position by denying the applicants’ family or their counsel their right of visiting them in police custody. It will be in the interest of justice if the applicants are brought before this honorable court so that the court can ascertain whether the applicants are still alive. It will be in the interest of justice if the applicants can be charged by the defendants to court since they have already spent over 24 hours in custody and failure to do this will amount to usurpation of the constitutional powers of the judiciary.”the court paper states