Offa Robbery: Saraki Accuses Kwara Govt of Admitting False Claims as 18 Charges Are Dropped

Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has accused the Kwara State Government of making false claims against him in connection with the 2018 Offa robbery incident, following its decision to drop 18 of the 20 charges initially filed against him and former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed.
Saraki, through his media office, described the development as an admission that the allegations of armed robbery against the former governors lacked credible evidence.
In a statement signed by Yusuph Olaniyonu of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office in Abuja, the former Senate President said the state government had abandoned all 18 charges relating to armed robbery, causing the deaths of police officers and illegal possession of firearms.
The statement said the government had previously made unsuccessful attempts since April 2026 to arraign Saraki and Ahmed on the allegations.
“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.
It added that the government had retained only two charges from the original charge sheet, identified as counts 19 and 20.
According to the statement, the remaining allegations accused the former governors of conspiring to belong to “a gang of thieves” and actually belonging to such a gang, as well as “concealing/causing the disappearance” of a vehicle allegedly used for illegal purposes.
Reacting to the amendment of the charges, Saraki’s media office described the action as “ridiculous, mischievous, ill-intentioned, and a further attempt to abuse the judicial process.”
“The amendment to the charge sheet only reveals that there was no case against these gentlemen from the beginning and what the state government is indulging in is abuse of powers, a travesty of the justice system, and mockery of the prosecutorial powers of the state,” it said.
The statement also accused Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of using the Offa robbery case for political purposes ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“In the calculations of Mr Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, keeping the Offa robbery case in court is his own unique way of painting his two predecessors black and indirectly waging a dark campaign against them for the coming elections,” it alleged.
It further claimed that the state government had spent close to N100 million advertising allegations against Saraki and Ahmed in national newspapers earlier in the year.
The media office described the expenditure as a waste of public funds, arguing that the money could have been deployed to execute public projects.
“That is money that could have been used to execute useful public projects which have now been flushed down the drain on claims that the government knew were false, baseless, and needless from the beginning,” the statement said.
The statement also linked the filing of criminal charges against the former governors to the approaching elections, describing the action as “not just an afterthought, but simply a dark campaign.”
It alleged that some individuals linked to the state government had encouraged family members of victims of the Offa robbery to institute a separate civil case against the former governors.
Despite the withdrawal of the 18 charges, Saraki’s media office said its principal would challenge the two remaining allegations in court.
“While the lawyers to our principal are ever ready to defend the rights of their client and ensure that the judicial process is not abused against him, we will like to assure members of the public that even these newly filed charges will be contested,” the statement said.
It added that “all attempts to demonise, persecute, and blackmail Dr. Saraki will fail.”
The statement also noted that the amendment of the charges came while Saraki was in Offa, campaigning for candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 elections.
It said the reception he received across Offa and other parts of Kwara South demonstrated that residents had not believed the allegations against him.
Saraki’s media office said that the amended charges would also fail in court, insisting that the allegations could not withstand judicial scrutiny.