President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said he had no objections to
any plan by the police to arrest Senate President Bukola Saraki over a
string of murder cases in Kwara State, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
The
president received Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris at the State House
on Friday afternoon, during which he was told of at least 20 murders
allegedly linked to Mr Saraki in his home state, according to multiple
sources briefed of the meeting.
Sources said the police chief
arrived at the State House with a cornucopia of homicide investigation
documents relating to Mr Saraki. The top lawmaker could be arrested any
day from now following the president’s position that the law should run
its course insofar as detectives have sufficient facts to file charges.
Already,
the police have declared Mr Saraki a person of interest in the deadly
robbery incident in Offa, the second-largest settlement in Kwara State.
The police said at least 17 persons, including nine police officers,
were killed and five banks raided in the April 5 attack.
The
police said the death toll from the robbery has risen steadily to 33 as
at last week. Twenty 22 suspects, including a dismissed police sergeant,
have been announced arrested.
Mr Saraki was amongst the first
set of leaders to condemn the attack and called for a sweeping
investigation and prosecution of all suspects.
In a statement on
Sunday, police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, said at least five of the
suspects arrested in the robbery “admitted and confessed to have been
sponsored with firearms, money and operational vehicles” by Mr Saraki
and Abdulfatah Ahmed, the state governor.
While parading the
suspects on Sunday afternoon, Mr Moshood identified one of them as
Ayoade Akinnibosun, a 37 years old resident of the state and the
‘overall’ leader of the armed gang. His vehicle was allegedly one of
those used in the robbery. A number plate allegedly registered in Mr
Akinnibosun’s name superimposed on a sticker number plate which had
‘SARAKI’ boldly written on it.
Amongst top Kwara government
officials named in the robbery were Yusuf Abdulwahab, the chief of staff
to the governor, and the environment commissioner.
The police
said Mr Abdulwahab, 58, had been taken into custody, but it was not
immediately clear whether it was in connection to the robbery. Some
local news reports out of Kwara said Mr Abdulwahab was arrested on fraud
charges unrelated to the robbery two days ago.
Mr Sakari has
been asked to turn himself in at the police intelligence department in
Guzape, Abuja. No date was specified for the summon. The Senate
President could be arrested if he fails to turn himself in as demanded
by the police, especially as he enjoys no immunity from prosecution.
But
Mr Ahmed, whose position as governor accords him absolute immunity from
criminal charges, has denied the police claims against him .
In a
statement to PREMIUM TIMES Monday afternoon, Mr Ahmed said the police
allegation that he armed and funded suspects for political thuggery or
for any other activity was “false and unfounded.”
The governor
said he had never been involved in or encouraged “thuggery or any other
form of criminality.” He said the state government provided funds for
youth in the state for small businesses; but neither him nor the state
government should be held responsible for how the youth use such funds.
On
his part, it was not immediately clear whether the Senate President
will honour the invitation. His spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Sunday
afternoon did not return PREMIUM TIMES telephone calls and text messages
seeking comments about the police invitation and Mr Buhari’s approval.
Presidential
spokespersons, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, did not return multiple
requests for comments. Neither did Mr Moshood answer enquiries about Mr
Idris’ visit to the State House and the invitation to Mr Saraki.
The
disclosure that Mr Saraki had been implicated in murder cases comes
three weeks after an open confrontation played out between the police
and the top lawmaker.
But the confrontation was over separate
criminal suspects arrested in connection to multiple gang killings the
state over the past two years. The police abruptly moved the suspects to
Abuja after the were arrested in Kwara and charges were being prepared
against them over there.
On May 16, the day the police
transferred the suspects, Mr Saraki alerted the nation of an alleged
plan by Mr Idris and his police team to implicate him in criminal
matters.
The top lawmaker told the Senate plenary that Mr Ahmed
informed him the suspects were being transferred to Abuja to ease the
alleged sinister plot by the police.
The police fiercely rejected
the claim in a statement the same day, reprimanding Mr Saraki for his
conduct and warning to desist from compromising an ongoing criminal
investigation.
Judicial authorities in Kwara asked the police to
return the suspects to the state for trial because their charges had
already been prepared, a demand that hit a brick wall with the police.
There
were initial reports that the suspects, some of whom PREMIUM TIMES
later found were suspected cultists , confessed they were sponsored by
Mr Saraki, but the Kwara government swiftly debunked the claims ,
insisting that the suspects did not indict anyone.
Neither the 22
suspects arrested in the Offa robbery nor the murder suspects in
cultist clashes have been charged to court. The police earlier stated
that they would charge all the suspects upon conclusion of preliminary
investigations.
It was not immediately clear how the police
arrived at the 20 murders reportedly linked to Mr Saraki when they
confirmed 33 deaths in the Offa robbery incident alone. But his arrest,
notwithstanding the severity, could prove politically toxic for the
ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said political analyst, Sola
Olubanjo.
When Mr Saraki first alleged attempt to frame him up on
May 16, the Senate constituted a nine-member emissary to appeal to Mr
Buhari to prevail on Mr Idris to relax criminal allegations against the
top lawmaker.
Mr Saraki has also been leading a pack of
politicians who allege marginalisation within the APC. The politicians,
under the so-called nPDP, hold individual grudges, which range from
alleged marginalisation over the past three years to their future
standing within the ruling party.
Last week, the members met with
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the State House, but details of their
discussion were not immediately disclosed.
Mr Buhari was not a
part of the meeting, but there was optimism amongst the nPDP members
that they would still meet the president.
“You have a ruling
party that is facing a general election in less than a year away and its
Number One is fighting its Number Three,” Mr Olubanjo said of Mr Buhari
and Mr Saraki, who is generally seen as the third most-powerful
personality in the country, coming behind the vice president.
“The president is putting the party and his own political future in a critical situation.”
“I
am not trying to defend criminality,” the analyst said. “But if we are
to be objective in analysing how the police have handled this matter, we
would see clearly that they have nothing against the Senate leader but
only on a mission to destroy him by all means.”
Bolaji Abdullahi,
the national spokesperson for the APC, did not immediately return
PREMIUM TIMES’ calls seeking comments about the political fallout of Mr
Saraki’s run-in with federal authorities.
A media consultant for
the party who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said he would not be able to
immediately quantify how devastating it would be for the APC if Mr
Saraki is arrested.
“I would rather tell you that IGP Idris did
not make such request to the president on Friday,” said Ayo Akanji, who
frequently visits the State House as a media consultant to the
administration. “Even if he did, the president did not approve it.”
“Arresting
the Senate President could thwart the ongoing reconciliation efforts
and that may not be good for the party,” Mr Akanji added.
If Mr
Saraki turns himself in and is charged, it would be another criminal
charge since becoming Senate President in June 2015. He had been
previously docked at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for false and
anticipatory declaration of assets. He was discharged and acquitted on
all 18 counts, but the Court of Appeal upheld all but two of the charges
and returned them to the tribunal.
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