The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has explained why he will not be honouring the invitation by the police over the infamous Offa robbery.
Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris on Monday wrote a letter to the senate president requesting him to report to the Special Anti-Robbery unit of the force in Guzape, Abuja on Tuesday.
Recall that 33 persons, including nine policemen, were killed when some dare-devil robbers attacked some commercial banks in Offa, Kwara State on April 5.
The principal suspects were said to have identified themselves as political thugs of Saraki and Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, whom they also accused of supplying their arms and ammunition.
This caused Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to invite Saraki for questioning after initially requesting him to write a letter to defend himself against the purported allegations against him.
But Saraki explained why he will not be honouring the invitation through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu.
He said he had already addressed all the points raised by the police in his letter to the Force Headquarters.
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The senate president added that having addressed all the points raised in the letter, he believed it was unnecessary to personally honour the police invitation.
In his letter, Saraki described the invitation to personally present himself to the police was “a mere afterthought, which is designed to achieve political purpose.”
He added that he had it “on good authority that the police had already decided on the suspects to arraign in court in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Wednesday, based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mohammed U.E., and that the turn around to invite him was a ploy aimed at scoring cheap political points.”
He added, “I’ve been reliably informed that the police invitation was planned by the IG as a ploy to stop an alleged plan by some Senators and House of Representatives members from defecting from the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was also said if I was detained between Tuesday and Wednesday, that would abort the alleged defection plan.”