PRESIDENT OF NIGERIAN SENATE, DR. BUKOLA SARAKI REPLIES IGP IDRIS ON LINK WITH OFFA ROBBERY

ABUJA, Nigeria – President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki has denounced allegations linking him with the robbery in Offa, Kwara State during which about 50 people including policemen were killed. In a statement signed by Yusufu Laniyonu, Media aide to the Senate President, Saraki described the allegations as baseless and called on members of the public to disregard it.

He said it was part of the plot to frame him up and that like other allegations, it will fail and that he is ready to honour any invitation from the Nigeria Police Force.

“The attention of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has been drawn to a story circulating online and apparently derived from a Press Conference addressed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Moshood Jimoh, linking him (Saraki) to the Offa robbery.Dr. Saraki will want the entire public to disregard this claim as a baseless allegation and another ploy by the Police to implicate him by all means. 

“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.

“Members of the public will remember that on May 16, 2018, I alerted the Senate about the information passed on to me by my State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatai Ahmed, over a plot by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to frame me up by getting some suspected cultists arrested in Ilorin to implicate me. It is believed that the timely leakage of the plot in that case aborted the use of the suspected cultists to implicate me. Now, it is the Offa bank robbery suspects that are about to be used.

“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.  

“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.

“It is however sad that this abuse of the criminal investigation process aimed at intimidating and over-overawing the legislature, thereby obstructing it from doing its work, is a big threat to our democracy “, the Senate President  stated.

END

Signed

Yusuph Olaniyonu 
Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to Senate President