Senate President Bukola Saraki has been invited by the Nigeria Police force in connection with the robbery which recently occurred in Offa, Kwara State.
This followed the mentioning of his name by five of the suspects who confessed to the crime.
The police reported that five gang leaders indicted Saraki after they confessed that they were political thugs sponsored by the Senate President and the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed.
“The Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki is being invited by the Nigeria Police Force to report to the Force Intelligence Response Team office at Guzape, Abuja to answer to the allegations levelled against him from the confessions of the Five (5) Gang Leaders and some of the other 17 suspects arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery and the gruesome killing of 33 innocent persons which includes some pregnant women and nine Police personnel,” the police statement read in part.
The five gang leaders were also said to have further confessed that they are political thugs under the name Youth Liberation Movement a.k.a “Good Boys” and were sponsored with firearms, money and operational vehicles by the Senate President Saraki and the Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed.
The police also added that a Lexus jeep GX-300 (Ash Colour) used by the gang leader during the bank robbery bears the inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony” on its number plate.
Moshood in the statement revealed that the sticker number plate with inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony,” was however removed and another number plate (Reg. No. Kwara, KMA 143 RM) registered in the name of Ayoade AKinnibosun the alleged overall commander of the Offa bank robbery was then attached to the vehicle to cover up the identity of the said vehicle.
The police said the vehicle was eventually recovered from the premises of the Ministry of Environmental and Forestry in Ilorin, Kwara State while the sticker number plate with inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony” removed from the vehicle was recovered from one Adeola Omiyale who drove the Lexus Jeep to Government House in Ilorin, immediately after the bank robbery.
Meanwhile the senate president has described the police statement as a baseless allegation and another ploy by the Police to implicate him by all means.
Reacting via a statement issued by his spokesman, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the Senate President said:
“Let it be known that there is no way I could have been associated with armed robbery against my people,”
“When the Offa robbery incident happened, I was the first top public official to pay a visit to the place and right there in the palace of the traditional ruler, I put a call through to this same Mr. Ibrahim Idris, the IGP, requesting him to make certain specific security arrangements as demanded by the people.”
“Now, it is the Offa bank robbery suspects that are about to be used,” he said, adding: “This plot is concocted to embarrass me and, in the mind of the IGP, it is his own response after his refusal to honour the invitation by the national assembly, headed me, for him to come and offer explanations on the rampant killings and violence across the country.
“Like the earlier one, this frame-up will also fail as I hereby state categorically that I have no link with any band of criminals.
The senate president however,said he will honour the invitation because he has “utmost respect for the rule of law.”
“As a person who has utmost respect for the rule of law and all constitutional institutions, when the invitation from the police is formally extended to me, I will be ready to honour it without any delay.” he said.
