Offa Robbery: IGP gets court’s order to summon Saraki

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris has been served with a warrant of criminal summons against Senate President Bukola Saraki over the Offa robbery incident.

In the letter served to the IGP by Barrister Oluwatosin Ojaomo, the IGP was reportedly requested to immediately execute the service of the criminal summons on the Senate President in line with Section 122 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

The warrant was issued on July 31 by a Grade One Area Court, ACO Estate, Lugbe, Abuja in a case with number: CR/196/18 between Ojaomo and Bukola Saraki.

The lawyer accused Saraki, who failed to honour the IGP’s invitation on July 24, 2018, of “Obstructing a criminal investigation and disobeying a public officer carrying out a lawful responsibility” which he said is an offence under sections 136 and 149 of the Penal Code.

The case has been fixed for September 10.

The Nigeria Police had invited Saraki to make explanations after some suspects in the Offa armed robbery in April, fingered him and Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed as sponsors but the Senate President, instead of honouring the police invitations, rather politicised and made issues out of it.

It would be recalled that part of the effort to dodge police investigations was the reason Saraki had turned the Senate of the Federal Republic that he heads to a theatre of dangerous politicking with 14 law makers and his Chief of Staff Hameed Baba-Ahmed dumping the All Progressives Congress (APC) in an orchestration credited to him.

Saraki shutdown the National Assembly thereafter thereby subjecting the whole country to the risk of not being able to have a transition as constitutionally required as INEC’s 2019 elections budget bill before his Senate was left unattended to due to the abrupt shutdown he said to be annual recess.

Many of his distinguished colleagues including a PDP senator have however admitted that the Senate President actually did the shutdown in protest of what he called the plot to remove him as Senate President.