Former Senate President Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has restated that he has no connection to the 2018 Offa bank robbery, describing renewed attempts to link him to the incident as political blackmail designed to distract from worsening insecurity in Kwara State.
The Saraki Media Office, in a statement issued in Ilorin by Press Officer on Local Matters Mallam Abdulganiyu Abdulqadir, faulted comments credited to the Special Assistant on Political Matters to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Mr. Sai Kai, calling them “poorly articulated, deceitful, and filled with deliberate misinformation”. “Dr. Saraki has nothing to do with the Offa robbery incident. This is a fact known to the powers that be then,” the statement said.
The statement stressed that Saraki had long been cleared of any connection to the robbery by the Federal Director of Public Prosecution in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation. “In two separate reports dated 22nd June, 2018, and 23rd August, 2018, respectively, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation stated that there was no evidence directly or indirectly linking Dr. Saraki to the Offa robbery,” it said.
Saraki accused the Kwara State Government of using false narratives to divert attention from insecurity across the state. “This tragic situation has led to overcrowding, food insecurity, and unemployment, as people flee from their homes in search of safety,” the statement added, noting that several communities in Kwara North and South had been deserted due to repeated bandit attacks.
The Offa bank robbery, which took place on April 5, 2018, saw heavily armed robbers attack several banks and a police station, leaving 33 people dead, including innocent citizens and security personnel. Since then, the incident has remained a subject of political controversy, with some attempting to link it to prominent figures.
Families of victims have also publicly rejected attempts to politicise their loss. In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja, the families, represented by Alhaji Abdul Oseni Aditu Eniolohunpa, Hajia Mulikat Jimoh, and Mrs Danjuma Comfort, urged Nigerians to disregard persistent claims linking Saraki to the incident. “They condemned what they described as the politicisation of their loss,” the families said.
The families revealed they had previously been approached by individuals urging them to make public statements implicating Dr. Saraki in the attack. “They rejected such attempts, insisting that their loved ones were victims of a violent crime and that it was unjust for anyone to exploit their tragedy for political ends,” the statement said. “Our loved ones would not have wanted their deaths to be used as tools for political manipulation,” they said.
Saraki’s office further alleged that Governor AbdulRazaq had induced some family members of victims to file a civil case in court against the state government and join Dr. Saraki as a party “as a way of further embarrassing the former Senate President”.
While police investigations in 2018 saw gang leaders mention Saraki as a political sponsor, one of the suspects, Ayoade Akinnibosun, noted twice in public that his gang’s alleged sponsors, Saraki and then Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, “knew absolutely nothing about the robbery”. Saraki has maintained that the probe was politically motivated and has consistently denied involvement.
The families of victims appealed to Nigerians to focus on preventing similar tragedies in future rather than fuelling political debates.
