Former Senate President and ex-governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki, has strongly condemned the criminal charges filed against him by the Kwara State government over the 2018 Offa bank robbery, describing the move as a politically motivated attempt to tarnish his reputation.
The charges, filed on April 9, 2026, by the administration of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, include a 20-count indictment that also names former governor Abdulfatah Ahmed. The case seeks to link the two former leaders to the April 5, 2018 robbery in Offa, which left several people dead and multiple banks destroyed.
In a detailed statement released on April 17, Saraki denied any involvement in the incident, insisting that the allegations are baseless and amount to an abuse of the judicial process. He described the charges as “cheap politics” and part of a broader effort to undermine his political standing.
Saraki further alleged that the case was originally fabricated during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to weaken his influence ahead of the 2019 elections. He maintained that investigations at the time, including legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), found no evidence linking him to the crime.
According to him, the DPP’s reports in 2018 clearly stated that there was no “prima facie case” or nexus between him and the suspects involved in the robbery. He noted that based on that advice, only four suspects were prosecuted, convicted, and their convictions upheld on appeal, with the matter now before the Supreme Court.
The former Senate President accused the current administration in Kwara of deliberately reviving the case for political reasons, particularly after he criticised the state government’s handling of insecurity in a recent media interview.
He also alleged that relevant documents, including the DPP’s findings, were deliberately omitted in public presentations of the charges in order to mislead the public and media.
Saraki criticised the governor for prioritising what he called “frivolous litigation” over addressing security challenges in the state, claiming that hundreds of lives have been lost to banditry in recent times.
He expressed confidence in the judiciary, stating that his legal team is prepared to challenge the charges in court and that justice would ultimately prevail.
The development has further heightened political tensions in Kwara State, with observers viewing the case as a significant test of the intersection between law and politics in the state.