Offa bank robbery: ‘State govt’s withdrawal of charges proves false claims’

The Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office has described the Kwara State Government’s withdrawal of all 18 Offa armed robbery-related charges against two former governors of the state, Dr Abubakar Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed, as an embarrassment to the state and an abuse of judicial process.
   
This comes as some politicians, including the Kwara South Senatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Saheed Popoola, confessed over the weekend that they linked Saraki to the robbery case in which over 25 people, including policemen, were killed, for political motives.
   
Popoola said he aligned with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the movement that removed Saraki.
   
Meanwhile, in a statement yesterday, Saraki’s Media Office, Yusuph Olaniyonu, described the amendment of the charges as ridiculous, mischievous, ill-intentioned, and a further attempt to abuse the judicial process.

He said Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s amendment to the charge sheet only revealed that there was no case against the two former governors from the beginning, and that the state government was indulging in abuse of power, which he described as “a travesty of the justice system, and mockery of the prosecutorial powers of the state.”
   
Alleging that the Kwara State Government had wasted close to N100 million advertising its claims on the front pages of national newspapers earlier in the year, Olaniyonu said the money could have been used to execute useful public projects rather than on “false, baseless, and needless” claims.
   
He added that public confessions by some of Abdulrazaq’s former supporters of using the Offa robbery allegations to mobilise support against Saraki in the 2019 polls further showed that the state government’s case does not enjoy any credibility from the people.
   
Speaking in the palace of the Olofa of Offa during the PDP tour of Kwara South district, Popoola said he regretted his support for the APC, adding that most of the top political players supported the movement and the APC in the hope for better development, but were disappointed by the present government. 
   
Also, the convener of Orisun Igbomina, Gbenga Awoyale, who said he was among those who led the anti-Saraki campaign and helped bring the APC to the limelight, said he needed to clear his conscience over the issue.