Grieving Families Of Offa Robbery Victims Condemn Gov AbdulRazaq’s Desperation To Instigate Civil lawsuits against Saraki
At least half a dozen families of victims of the 2018 Offa robbery incident have condemned a politically motivated move by the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, to instigate lawsuits against former Senate President Bukola Saraki, Peoples Gazette has learnt.
Representatives of the affected families, who couldn’t speak publicly on the governor’s antics because they may be called as witnesses in an ongoing lawsuit stemming from the robbery, strongly dissociated themselves from any attempt to hold Mr Saraki liable for their losses and denounced Mr AbdulRazaq and other politicians desperate to weaponise the tragedy against their political opponents.
“We dissociate ourselves, our family, and our community from all efforts to continue using this case for politics by collecting signatures to witch-hunt and scapegoat other leaders in the larger society,” one of the families said.
In January, four families— represented by Abraham Oluwafemi Makinde, Lateef Taiye Raheem, Adeshina Felemo Ayesanmi, and Monsurat Aramide Adebayo—filed a lawsuit against the Kwara State government and joined Mr Saraki as a respondent, seeking heavy financial damages.
The claimants referenced confessions by one of the convicts, Ayoade Akinnibosun, who allegedly named Messrs Saraki and former Kwara Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed as their sponsors, stating they acted as political thugs and disrupted elections when their sponsors did not win.
They also accused the then-state government of complicity in the attack, alleging that robbery exhibits were hidden at the Government House during Mr Ahmed’s administration, which ended in 2019.
Kwara government officials have now told The Gazette that Mr AbdulRazaq is desperate to capitalise on the incident to witch-hunt the political opposition in Kwara, which Mr Saraki has led since Mr AbdulRazaq was first elected in 2019.
“The governor’s desperation is clear, even though there’s no evidence that directly or indirectly tied the former Senate President to the unfortunate robbery,” an aide to the governor said under anonymity to avoid being victimised. “We have to start doing politics better.”
When we reached for comments, a spokesperson for the governor suggested that The Gazette should not be making findings on the matter, sidestepping our specific questions about his principal’s role.
At least 32 civilians were killed on April 5, 2018, when daredevil armed robbers stormed a row of commercial banks in downtown Offa, an ancient trading hub about 1.5 hours southeast of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
No sooner had the incident occurred than Mr Saraki’s political opponents started circulating rumours of his involvement. The accusers, mostly politicians of the ruling All Progressives Congress, circulated a picture of one of the suspects attending a public social event previously organised by Mr Saraki.
But the native attire they said the suspect was wearing was bought by thousands of residents across Kwara and beyond to celebrate the event with Mr Saraki, who was then serving as Nigeria’s number three citizen after serving for eight years as the state’s governor.
As the rumour spread, even after Mr Saraki paid condolence visits to the bereaved and Offa community chiefs, the police, under the control of Mr Saraki’s arch-rival former President Muhammadu Buhari, invited Mr Saraki for questioning as part of their investigation into the matter.
Mr Saraki strongly denied any involvement in the matter and sued some of the most virulent purveyors of the rumour in Kwara.
A team of police investigators led by former deputy police commission Abba Kyari initially falsely claimed some suspects arrested for participating in the robber had “admitted, confessed and volunteered statements that they were political thugs of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and the Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed.”
However, Mr Akinnibosun, a key suspect then, later told the court that the police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) under Mr Kyari, now disgraced and in prison, forced him into making statements implicating Mr Saraki.
“Abba Kyari told me to mention the name of Senate President Bukola Saraki that he gave me the guns for the operations. But I declined,” the suspect said in court.
Mr Akinnibosun said Mr Kyari had promised that he would be set free and heavily rewarded if he could falsely indict Mr Saraki, who was enduring a fierce political battle from the Buhari administration at the time stemming largely from his emergence as Senate President in 2015 against Mr Buhari’s wishes.
“When I disagreed, they called some policemen to take me back to their cell. During this time, my hands were tied to my legs,” Mr Akinnibosun added.
Five suspects— Azeez Salahudeen, Niyi Ogundiran, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham and Mr Akinnibosun— were handed death sentences last year for their roles in the robbery. Some suspects were killed under controversial circumstances in police custody before trial, which Justice Haleema Saliman conducted.
A spokesperson for Mr Saraki did not reply to requests seeking comment about whether or not the politician was aware of Mr AbdulRazaq’s plots.
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