President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Kwara state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, were yesterday invited by the Police Force headquarters in Abuja to answer questions rela noting to what the Police referred to as allegations indicting them from confessions of five gang leaders arrested for participation in the April 5 Offa bank robberies and killings of 33 innocent persons.
The Police said the five gang leaders in the Offa bank robbery which left a bloody trail, that claimed the lives of nine (9) police officers, volunteered statements that they were political thugs of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed.
Reacting to the development, Dr Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media, Mr Yusuph Olaniyonu said that he “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”, while Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, also dismissed the allegations, saying the state cannot not be held responsible for the behaviour of youths in the state who chose to deploy their empowerment wrongly.
However, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kwara State, expressed divergent views on the issue, as the ruling party said the Police was out to nail the Senate president at all cost. But the PDP asked both the Senate president and Governor Ahmed to honour the Police invitation and clear their names.
Confirming the invitation in a statement, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Jimoh Moshood, said: “The investigation into the Offa bank robbery and gruesome killings of more than 33 Innocent persons in Offa, Kwara State, on April 5, 2018, directed by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris, has made significant progress, successes and more revelations have been recorded. “The gang leaders and some of the principal suspects arrested for their active participation in the robbery and the killing of innocent persons have made confessional statements admitting to the various criminal roles they and their sponsors played in this dastardly and heinous crime. “The five gang leaders, including Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibukunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran and some of the other seventeen suspects arrested for direct involvement and active participation in the Offa bank robbery and the gruesome killing of 33 innocent persons, which includes some pregnant women and nine police personnel, 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. “The arrests of the five gang leaders and seventeen others were made possible after the arrest of two principal suspects, Kunle Ogunleye, aka Arrow, 35, and Michael Adikwu, an ex-convict, whose pictures were captured by CCTV in one of the banks during the robbery operation, were circulated to the media and the public. “The two principal suspects confessed to be among the suspects led by the five gang leaders to carry out the Offa bank robbery, the attack on the Divisional Police Headquarters, Offa, and the killing of 33 innocent persons on April 5, 2018.
“Millions of Naira from the banks and twenty one AK47 rifles belonging to the Nigeria Police Force in the Armoury of the Police Divisional Headquarters, Offa, were admitted to have been carted away by the five gang leaders and the other seventeen principal suspects during the robbery operations. “The five gang leaders confessed and volunteered statements to the Police investigators, giving a clear account of how they planned and carried out the bank robbery operation in Offa, the attack on the Police Division in Offa and how they killed the 33 innocent persons during the robbery. “The five gang leaders, who further confessed during investigation that they are political thugs under the name, Youth Liberation Movement, a.k.a “Good Boys”, admitted and confessed to have been sponsored with firearms, money and operational vehicles by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, and the governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed. “In the course of discreet investigation into the confessions of these five gang leaders and the other seventeen 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’ 37, during the bank robbery and the killing of the 33 innocent persons, was taken to Government House, Ilorin, on May 16, 2018, where the sticker plate number with inscription “SARAKI” “Kwara, State of Harmony” was removed before another plate number, Kwara, KMA 143 RM, registered in the name of Ayoade Akinnibosun, the overall commander of 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 Ministry 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 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 killing of 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 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 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 33 innocent persons in the name of Ayoade Akinnibosun, the overall gang commander of Offa bank robbery, while Ayoade Akinnibosun was already in Police custody for more than six days before the registration of the vehicle. “Investigation is ongoing and effort is being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large. All suspects involved will be arraigned in court for prosecution on completion of investigation.
