The Nigerian Police Force headquarters in Abuja has invited the President of the senate, Bukola Saraki for questioning over the April 5 bank robbery attacks and killings at Offa, Kwara State, during which some policemen were killed and millions of naira carted away.

Saraki is to report at the Force Intelligence Response Team Office at Guzape, Abuja to answer to the allegations reportedly leveled against him by five alleged gang leaders that participated in the multiple robberies at First Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Ecobank, Zenith, Union Bank and Ibolo Micro-Finance Bank, all in Offa.

Force public relations officer, Jimoh Moshood who stated at a briefing on Sunday said the invitation of the Senate President followed confessional statements made by some arrested suspects of the bank robbery who fingered him and the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed.

Parading some of the suspects who allegedly participated in the heist in which nine policemen and 33 persons were killed, Jimoh gave the names of the five gang leaders as Ayoade Akinnibosun, 37; Ibikunle Ogunleye,36;  Adeola Abraham, 35;  Salawudeen Azeez, 49 and Niyi Ogundiran, 37.

Apart from the gang leaders, other principal suspects said to have implicated Saraki in their confessions are Michael Adikwu, 30, who reportedly killed 22 persons at the police station, Kabiru Afolabi, 26; Omoseni Kassim, 28; Kayode Opadokun, 35; Kazeem Abdulrasheed, 36; Azeez Abdullahi, 27 and Adewale Popoola, 22.

According to Jimoh, others are Adetoyese Muftau, 23; Alexander Reuben, 39; Richard Terry, 23; Peter Kuunfa, 23; Ikechukwu Nnaji, 29; Moses Godwin, 28; Adeola Omiyale, 38; Femi Idowu, 34; Alabi Olalekan, 49 (the Personal Assistant, (Political), to the Kwara State Governor) and Yusuf Abdulwahab, 58, (Chief of Staff to the Kwara State Governor).

Moshood stated that the arrest of the gang leaders and others was made possible after the arrest of Ogunleye and Adikwu whose images were captured by the Closed Circuit Television camera at one of the banks which were circulated to the media and the public.

He explained that two AK47 rifles, two beretta pistols, one revolver, and one Toyota Lexus RX300 SUV with Kwara State number plate, KMA 143 RM belonging to Akinnibosun used in the robbery were recovered.

Other exhibits, Jimoh added, included a Mercedes Benz car with Lagos registration number, LT 496 KJA also belonging to Akinnibosun, a Toyota Prado SUV with number plate 19KWGH belonging to Olalekan, a Toyota Camry Saloon Car with number LRN 481 FE and the sum of ₦600,000.

“In the course of discreet investigation into the confessions of these five (5) gang leaders and the other seventeen (17) principal suspects, a Lexus jeep GX-300 (Ash Colour) with a sticker plate number with inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony” used by the gang leader (Ayoade Akinnibosun ‘M’, 37Yrs) during the bank robbery and the killing of the thirty three (33) innocent persons was taken to Government House, Ilorin on 16th May, 2018 where the sticker plate number with inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony” was removed before another plate number (Reg. No. Kwara, KMA 143 RM) registered in the name of Ayoade Akinnibosun. The overall commander of the Offa Bank Robbery was then attached to the vehicle to cover up the identity of the said vehicle.

“The exhibit vehicle was subsequently recovered from the premises of the Min. of Environmental and Forestry in Ilorin, Kwara State. While the sticker plate number with inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony” removed from the vehicle was recovered from one Adeola Omiyale who drove the said Lexus Jeep to Government House, Ilorin, immediately after the Bank Robbery.

“The Personal Assistant (Political) to the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mr. Alabi Olalekan, who is privy to information that the Police is looking for the Lexus Jeep as an exhibit used in the Offa Bank Robbery and the killings of thirty three (33) innocent persons, directed one Adeola Omiyale to relocate the Lexus Jeep to Government House, Ilorin.

“The PA (Political) is currently in Police custody and has made useful statement assisting the Police in further investigation into the case. A revolver pistol and pump action gun were recovered by the Police Investigation Team from the Personal Assistant (Political) to the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mr. Alabi Olalekan’s farm, where he directed his brother to hide them after his arrest by the Police.

“In order to conceal evidence, the Chief of Staff to the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mr. Yusuf Abdulwahab, who has been arrested and taken into Police custody, arranged the removal of the sticker plate number with inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony” from the exhibit vehicle and also registered the exhibit Lexus Jeep used in the Offa Bank Robbery and the killings of thirty three (33) innocent persons in the name of Ayoade Akinnibosun, the overall gang commander of the Offa Bank Robbery, while the Ayoade Akinnibosun was already in Police custody for more than six (6) days before the registration of the vehicle,” Jimoh said in the statement.

He continued: “Investigation is ongoing and efforts are being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large. All suspects involved will be arraigned in court for prosecution on completion of investigation.

“Meanwhile, the Senate President, Sen. Bukola Saraki, is being invited by the Nigeria Police Force to report to the Force Intelligence Response Team office at Guzape, Abuja to answer to the allegations levelled against him from the confessions of the five (5) gang leaders, namely: Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran and some of the other seventeen (17) suspects arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa Bank Robbery and the gruesome killing of thirty three (33) innocent persons which includes some pregnant women and nine (9) Police personnel.”

In an interview with journalists, the leader of the gang, Akinnibosun said he had been working as a political thug for Saraki in Kwara South, Kwara North, and Kwara Central Senatorial Districts while he was in the Peoples’ Democratic Party.

He explained that the gang assisted the Senate President to disrupt elections at polling centres his party could not win, adding that he had been working for Saraki since he was the Kwara State governor.

“We are the ones that do political arrangements for him; for example where we can’t win (elections), we make ‘dabaru’ (rigging) arrangements there. We scatter elections if we don’t win,” said the gang leader, who is also the head of a youth group in Kwara State, Liberation Youth Movement.

He however, said the senate president and the governor were not privy to the bank robberies, insisting that the only connection the two politicians had to the incident was the gang’s relationship with them.

“They did not send us to carry out the robberies, but because we are their political thugs, that was what led us into robbery. We have been their political thugs so that was what encouraged us to do what we were doing,” Akinnibosun added.

Asked about the rifles they used in the robberies, the suspect said: “It is Abdulwahab, Chief of Staff to the Kwara State Governor, that gave us the guns, (but) the Chief of Staff was not aware of the robbery.”

Responding to the invitation and allegations leveled against him, Saraki, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu on Sunday dismissed the allegation, describing it as baseless, saying he had no link with any of the arrested criminals.

Saraki maintained the plot was concocted to embarrass him because of his insistence that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris should appear before the Senate to explain reasons for the rampant killings and violence across the country.

The statement read: “The attention of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has been drawn to a story circulating online and apparently derived from a press conference addressed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Moshood Jimoh, linking him (Saraki) to the Offa robbery.

“Dr. Saraki will want the entire public to disregard this claim as a baseless allegation and another ploy by the Police to implicate him by all means.

“Let it be known that there is no way I could have been associated with armed robbery against my people. When the Offa robbery incident happened, I was the first top public official to pay a visit to the place and right there in the palace of the traditional ruler, I put a call through to this same Mr. Ibrahim Idris, the IG, requesting him to make certain specific security arrangements as demanded by the people.

“Members of the public will remember that on May 16, 2018, I alerted the Senate to the information passed on to me by my state governor, Dr. Abdulfatai Ahmed, over a plot by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to frame me by getting some suspected cultists arrested in Ilorin to implicate me.

“It is believed that the timely leakage of the plot in that case aborted the use of the suspected cultists to implicate me. Now, it is the Offa bank robbery suspects that are about to be used.

“This plot is concocted to embarrass me and, in the mind of the IG, it is his own response after his refusal to honour the invitation by the National Assembly, headed by me, for him to come and offer explanations on the rampant killings and violence across the country.

“Like the earlier one, this frame-up will also fail as I hereby state categorically that I have no link with any band of criminals.

“As a person who has utmost respect for the rule of law and all constitutional institutions, when the invitation from the Police is formally extended to me, I will be ready to honour it without any delay.

“It is however sad that this abuse of the criminal investigation process aimed at intimidating and over-overawing the legislature, thereby obstructing it from doing its work, is a big threat to our democracy.”