The Ogun State government has dismissed claims that Ogbonna Ogbojionu, an Abia indigene recently released after 22 years in prison, was wrongly jailed for buying a stolen generator.
According to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, Ogbonna was actually part of an armed robbery gang that attacked an ELF petrol station in Abeokuta in 2000 and killed a guard during the operation.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ogungbade said, “Ogbonna was lawfully convicted for his role in a violent robbery where a 10 KVA generator was stolen and one guard, Moses Bankole, was killed. He was not jailed for simply buying a stolen generator.”
He explained that Ogbonna, a generator technician, helped his gang dismantle the generator during the attack, after which they tied up the two guards. One of the guards died on the spot after being hit with an iron rod.
The surviving guard, Yusuf Akanni, later testified against Ogbonna in court. Ogungbade said days after the incident, the police caught Ogbonna in a vehicle used to hide the stolen generator but he escaped from custody before being re-arrested through further investigations.
Ogbonna was arrested alongside other suspects, including the buyer of the generator, Ali Rihan, who also testified against him. The AG said Ogbonna made a confession during prosecution and did not bring any witness to support his claims in court.
He added, “If he truly bought the generator, he should have provided a receipt. He later issued one to the buyer, so he clearly knew the value of documentation.”
Ogungbade noted that Ogbonna’s death sentence, issued in 2003, was later reduced to life imprisonment in 2021 by Governor Dapo Abiodun through the prerogative of mercy. He was recently released after serving over two decades.
The AG urged Nigerians not to be misled by social media stories suggesting Ogbonna was jailed unfairly, saying the real victim in the case was the late guard, Moses Bankole, whose family still lives with the pain.
“Ogbonna’s actions destroyed a business, traumatised one man, and took another man’s life. That is the true story,” he said.
