Get Guardian on GoogleAhmed Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has accused the Kwara State Government of abusing the judicial process after it dropped 18 armed robbery-related charges against him and former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed over the 2018 Offa bank robbery.
Saraki, through his media office, described the withdrawal as an admission that the allegations against the two former governors were unfounded, insisting that the remaining charges would also fail in court.
In a statement shared with PUNCH Online on Monday and signed by Yusuph Olaniyonu of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office in Abuja, the former Senate President said the state government had dropped 18 of the 20 counts in the original charge sheet.
The withdrawn charges included allegations of offa robbery, causing the deaths of police officers and illegal possession of firearms.The government, however, retained two charges alleging that Saraki and Ahmed conspired to belong to a gang of thieves and actually belonged to such a gang. The remaining allegations also relate to concealing or causing the disappearance of a vehicle allegedly used for illegal purposes.
The media office said the government had previously attempted to arraign the two former governors on the charges but later amended the case.It cited the first count in the original charge sheet, which alleged that Saraki, Ahmed and others conspired to commit armed robbery at the branches of Guarantee Trust Bank, First Bank, Ecobank and Union Bank in Offa, Kwara State, on April 5, 2018.
Another count alleged that they robbed Zenith Bank’s Offa branch while armed with guns and explosives.Reacting to the withdrawal, Saraki’s media office said the decision to drop 18 counts showed that the allegations lacked credible evidence.
“Both charges and 16 others with such ridiculous claims were dropped obviously because the government saw through the futility of the attempts to rope in Saraki and Ahmed and the fact that the charges lack any credible or factual basis,” the statement said.
The former Senate President maintained that the remaining allegations would also fail in court.
