Saraki Slams AbdulRazaq’s Offa Robbery Advertorial, Says AbdulRazaq will Account for His years in Office
Our attention has been drawn to a front-page advertorial in yesterday’s edition of THISDAY Newspaper, sponsored by Mr Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Governor of Kwara State. One clear message from the advertorial is that the state government has turned the whole Offa robbery case against former Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki into a media trial, and not a proper litigation in court. Perhaps the government has realised its case against Dr Saraki cannot withstand a real judicial test. Yesterday’s advertorial in THISDAY is the second in the series of sponsored newspaper advertisements that we had to respond to. However, while Dr Saraki had stated in his press statement dated April 17, 2026, that he is ready to meet the Kwara State governor and his machinery in court, there is a need to make some key clarifications on the falsehood and misleading statements contained in the front page advertorial by the Kwara State Government.
• It is interesting that of all pressing national issues, including the high rate of insecurity, the priority for the Kwara State government is hounding Dr Saraki for his views which the governor considered critical of his administration. Since the killings, arson, and kidnapping of Kwarans began on a large scale under his watch, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has not sponsored any newspaper front page advertisement to commiserate with the families of the victims or to mobilise Kwarans behind government policies and programmes aimed at tackling the problem of insecurity. His interest lies in sponsoring a media trial against his two immediate predecessors and framing them on trumped-up charges.
• Mr Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq told people, both privately and publicly, that he was riled by Dr Saraki ‘s interview on Channels TV in which he raised the issues of insecurity, among many others, and advised the government to do more in tackling the case of banditry, insurgency, and kidnapping. He said the views expressed by Dr Saraki compelled him to also put the former Senate President on trial. We respond that if the framed-up charges on the Offa robbery case which Dr Saraki knows nothing about, are the price he has to pay for speaking out and calling out the government to do more in protecting the interests of the people of Kwara State, giving voice to the voiceless and standing up to defend the right of less ordinary people in the state to enjoy protection of lives and properties, the Kwara State governor can be assured that Dr Saraki will remain undeterred. He will continue to speak out, loud and clear, logical and reasonable. He cannot be silenced.
• The Kwara State Governor needs to be reminded that he is starting what he cannot finish. This case will definitely not end under his tenure. He has just 12 months to stay in office. The trial that led to the conviction of the five accused persons started in November 2018 and is still at the Supreme Court eight years later. Thus, if the Kwara State governor thinks Dr Saraki will be scared by this dirty diversionary tactic of his, he has made a big mistake. Dr Saraki has gone through bigger and more dangerous trials machinated by more powerful people. He survived by the special grace of Almighty Allah (SWT). We do not nurse any doubt that he will also survive this needless attack from Mr Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
• While Dr. Saraki is ready to meet this governor in court to prove his innocence of the charges filed by the state government on the 2018 Offa robbery incident, we need to point out the falsehood in the claim by the Kwara State Governor that he filed the fresh charges in defence of the cause of justice. If he waited for eight years before filing the fresh charges, and chose an election year to do so, it is obvious his motivation is far from serving the cause of justice and close to political manipulation.
• We need to make it clear that Governor Abdulrazaq resorted to this desperate move of filing criminal charges against Dr Saraki after his efforts to incite, induce and goad the families of victims of the Offa robbery to file a civil case against Saraki failed. The families of the victims outrightly rejected any plan to “politicise their pains” to score cheap political points.
• In the earlier statement by Dr Saraki, he had clearly stated that he will meet the governor and his machinery in court. However, we will not let any chance that will enable us to set the records straight slip by. Mr Abdulrazaq and his aides have been repeating the lies that the advice of the Federal Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) was based on an “interim report”. This is an outright falsehood. The legal advice issued by the DPP dated 23rd August was based on the final report of the police investigation team which was submitted to his office on 27th July, 2028. This second legal advice came after the earlier one dated 22nd June, 2018 and was based on the interim police report submitted to his office on June 13th, 2018. It should be restated that the legal advice from DPP on both the interim and final police reports explicitly noted that there was no evidence to directly or indirectly link Dr Saraki to the Offa robbery.
• Members of the public should remember that at the time the robbery incident took place, Dr Saraki’s party, the PDP, was in control of Kwara State. The federal government through the office of the Inspector General of Police took over the investigation of the case under the guise that they wanted an unbiased probe. The report of the IGP’s team was later referred to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation who referred it to the DPP of the Federation for legal advice. The DPPF’s legal advice was relied upon in the trial of the five people now convicted. The Kwara State Police Command did not handle the investigation.
• Abdulrahman and his aides have also continued to refer to confessional statements made by the then-accused persons who have now been convicted. The confessional statements have been in existence since 2018. They are not new. Is it now that the Abdulrahman government found them useful to deploy against Dr Saraki? In hiding facts to justify their propaganda war against Dr Saraki, they refuse to make a public disclosure of how the accused persons disowned the so-called confessional statements during the trial. The accused persons narrated to the court how they were coerced, induced, and pressured into making these statements while in police custody. One of the convicts, Ayoade Akinnibosun told the trial judge on January 18, 2023, that: “He (DCP Abba Kyari who headed the investigation) said I should admit and say Saraki was the one who asked us to go and rob. I told him I wouldn’t do it; that I would rather die for what I didn’t do than to lie against an innocent man”. The convict narrated how they were promised money and a visa to travel out of the country if they could frame me. Witnesses presented by the Defence also narrated how they were induced to indict Dr Saraki but they refused before the police eventually released them.
• Mr Abdulrazaq should know that people can see through his devious game for what it is. They can understand why this governor would label his two immediate predecessors as sponsors of bank robbery. As Dr Saraki earlier stated: “A sitting governor who is accusing his two immediate predecessors of armed robbery is only making a mockery of the institution. He is only taking the governorship of our dear state to the gutter. This is an example of dirty politics taken too far and too low. He ought to know that nobody at the national or state level is buying his claim”. This is a governor who is resorting to a blackmail game to divert attention from the failure of governance under his leadership. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is responding to so many crises confronting him from different quarters. At home, he is becoming more and more unpopular as a lame duck governor. He is also confronted with a political crisis at home such that he has lost control within his party. Many of his fellow party members in Kwara State are defying his instructions. At the national level, he is seen as a directionless joker. All these pressures are forcing him to look for ways to divert attention.
• We hereby appeal to Dr Saraki’s supporters, loyalists, and associates to remain calm. The former Senate President is innocent of all the accusations. The way he overcame the last scheme to legally entrap him, he will come out victorious in this present plot too. A thousand front-page advertorials will not stop him from pointing out the failure of a government headed by an incompetent, clueless, and directionless governor. In the earlier press statement by Dr Saraki, he described the antics of Mr Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq as “a mere act of a desperate politician who is losing control in his party and knows that his days in governance are numbered. It is the reason why Nigerians should always take into consideration the level of education of those we elect into office. For a man who never completed secondary school education, it is difficult for him to appreciate the issues involved in any matter. His level of education is definitely affecting his judgment”. One cannot help but agree with this sentence. We need to remind Governor Abdulrazaq that the truth that he is hiding away from will still come to light. The pending matter of certificate forgery which came up in 2019 has not been dispensed with. It will soon be revisited, when the period of immunity elapse.
• We need to remind Mr Abdulrazaq that his time is ticking away. The state has started a countdown for his exit. Whether he likes it or not he will leave office by May 29 next year. That is one fact that is certain. And he will be called to account for his stewardship.
Signed
Yusuph Olaniyonu
Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office