Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has described the withdrawal of 18 armed robbery-related charges against him and former Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed as an admission that the allegations were false.
Saraki, in a statement issued by Yusuph Olaniyonu of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office in Abuja, accused the Kwara State Government of abusing the judicial process and expressed confidence that the remaining charges would also fail in court.
According to the statement, the state government dropped 18 of the 20 counts in the original charge sheet, including allegations of armed robbery, the killing of police officers and illegal possession of firearms.
The government reportedly retained two counts alleging that Saraki and Ahmed conspired to belong to a gang of thieves and were members of such a gang, as well as allegations relating to concealing or causing the disappearance of a vehicle allegedly used for illegal purposes.
The case relates to the April 5, 2018, armed robbery attacks on several banks in Offa, Kwara State, during which lives were lost.
Following the incident, police invited Saraki for questioning after some arrested suspects allegedly implicated him. The former Senate President denied any involvement, describing the allegations as an attempt to implicate him.
The allegations resurfaced in April 2026 when the Kwara State Government filed a fresh 20-count charge against Saraki, Ahmed and two former aides, Yusuf Abdulwahab and Alabi Olalekan, over their alleged involvement in the robbery.
Saraki’s media office said the state government had initially sought to arraign the former governors on the charges but subsequently amended the case.
It recalled that the original charge sheet accused Saraki, Ahmed and others of conspiring to carry out armed robberies at branches of Guarantee Trust Bank, First Bank, Ecobank and Union Bank in Offa on April 5, 2018.
Another count alleged that they robbed the Zenith Bank branch in the town while armed with guns and explosives.
Reacting to the withdrawal of the 18 counts, Saraki’s media office said the decision showed that the allegations lacked credible evidence.
“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 described the amendment as evidence that there had been no credible case against the former governors from the outset, accusing the state government of abusing its powers and making a mockery of the justice system.
The media office also accused Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s administration of using the case to damage the reputations of his predecessors ahead of the 2027 general elections.
It further alleged that the state government had spent close to N100 million advertising its claims against the former governors in national newspapers earlier in the year.
The statement described the alleged expenditure as a waste of public funds, arguing that the money could have been channelled into developmental projects.
Saraki’s media office also linked the criminal proceedings to the political activities ahead of the 2027 elections, alleging that the charges were filed in an attempt to discredit the former governor.
It noted that the amendment came while Saraki was visiting Offa and other communities in Kwara South to campaign for Peoples Democratic Party candidates.
Despite the withdrawal of most of the counts, the media office said Saraki’s lawyers would challenge the remaining charges in court.
It expressed confidence that the amended case would collapse, insisting that the allegations could not withstand judicial scrutiny.
“We want to further reiterate our assurances to members of the public, particularly supporters of Dr Saraki, that he remains unperturbed by the machinations of the Kwara State Government and that just as the earlier charge sheet collapsed like a badly arranged pack of cards, the amended charge will also fail in court because they are claims that cannot withstand the slightest judicial scrutiny,” the statement said.
