Ogun Govt: Ogbonna Was Jailed For Armed Robbery And Murder, Not Generator Purchase

The Ogun State Government has dismissed as false the widespread claim that Ogbonna Ogbojionu, a recently freed inmate, was wrongfully imprisoned for over two decades simply for buying a stolen generator.

Ogbojionu, a generator technician from Abia State, was among the convicts granted state pardon by Governor Dapo Abiodun during the 2025 Democracy Day celebrations. His release had sparked a wave of public sympathy following viral social media posts portraying him as an innocent man punished for another’s crime.

However, in a statement issued on Wednesday, Ogun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, SAN, stated unequivocally that Ogbojionu was lawfully convicted for armed robbery and murder.

According to the Attorney-General, Ogbojionu was part of an armed gang that stormed an ELF petrol station on the Abeokuta-Lagos expressway on October 3, 2000. During the attack, the robbers shot and killed a security guard, Moses Bankole, and seriously wounded another before making away with a 10 KVA generator.

Ogungbade explained that Ogbojionu was identified as the gang member who detached and helped move the generator from the premises. Days later, he was apprehended while transporting the stolen item concealed under bags of sachet water and firewood. Though he initially escaped from custody, he was later re-arrested after being named by his captured accomplices.

The Attorney-General further disclosed that Ogbojionu gave confessional statements at two separate police stations—statements that were admitted in court without objection during trial.

“The facts of the case are clear,” Ogungbade said. “This man did not merely buy a generator—he participated in a violent robbery that claimed a life. The attempt to recast him as a victim is both dishonest and a grave disservice to the actual victims of the crime.”

The prosecution, he added, called 11 witnesses, including the surviving security guard and the man who unwittingly bought the stolen generator. Ogbojionu and his co-defendants presented no defense, choosing instead to rest their case on the prosecution’s evidence.

He was convicted and sentenced to death in January 2003. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment in 2021. Ogungbade stressed that Ogbojionu’s release in June 2025 was based solely on the governor’s prerogative of mercy—not on any judicial finding of innocence.

“The prerogative of mercy is not a declaration of wrongful conviction. It is a discretionary privilege extended to convicts who have shown remorse and rehabilitation,” Ogungbade said.

He warned against the spread of misleading narratives that undermine the justice system and dishonor victims of crime.

“Ogbonna Ogbojionu should accept his freedom in silence and with gratitude,” he added. “Let us not forget the name Moses Bankole—the man who lost his life during that robbery. He is the true and irredeemable victim of this crime.”