Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has described the withdrawal of 18 armed robbery-related charges against him and former Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, over the 2018 Offa bank robbery as an admission that the allegations lacked a credible factual basis.

In a statement signed by Yusuph Olaniyonu of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Media Office in Abuja, Saraki accused the Kwara State Government of abusing the judicial process, insisting that the amended charges would also fail in court.

According to the statement, the state government had dropped 18 of the 20 counts in the original charge sheet, including allegations of armed robbery, the killing of police officers, and illegal possession of firearms.

Following the violent bank robbery, the police had invited Saraki for questioning after some of the arrested suspects allegedly implicated him. He denied any connection with the robbery, describing the allegations as an attempt to frame him.

However, the allegations resurfaced in April 2026 when the Kwara State Government filed a fresh 20-count charge against Saraki, Ahmed, and two former aides, Yusuf Abdulwahab and Alabi Olalekan, over their alleged involvement in the robbery.

The media office noted that the government had retained two charges, alleging that Saraki and Ahmed conspired to belong to a gang of thieves and were members of such a gang. The remaining allegations also related to concealing or causing the disappearance of a vehicle allegedly used for illegal purposes.

It said the government had previously attempted to arraign the two former governors on the charges before subsequently amending the case.

The statement cited the first count of the original charge sheet, which alleged that Saraki, Ahmed, and others conspired to commit armed robbery at the branches of Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank, Ecobank, and Union Bank in Offa, Kwara State, on April 5, 2018.

Another count alleged that they robbed the Offa branch of Zenith Bank while armed with guns and explosives.

Reacting to the withdrawal of the charges, Saraki’s media office said: “Both charges and 16 others with such ridiculous claims were dropped obviously because the government saw through the futility of the attempts to rope in Saraki and Ahmed and the fact that the charges lack any credible or factual basis.”

It added: “The amendment to the charge sheet only reveals that there was no case against these gentlemen from the beginning and what the state government is indulging in is abuse of powers, a travesty of the justice system, and mockery of the prosecutorial powers of the state.”

The media office also accused Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s administration of using the case to tarnish the reputations of his predecessors ahead of the 2027 elections.

It further alleged that the state government had spent close to ₦100m advertising its claims against the former governors in national newspapers earlier in the year.

The statement described the expenditure as a waste of public funds, arguing that the money could have been channelled into public projects.

Saraki’s media office also linked the criminal charges to political activities ahead of the 2027 elections, claiming that they were filed during an election year to discredit the former governor.

It noted that the amendment came while Saraki was visiting Offa and other communities in Kwara South to campaign for Peoples Democratic Party candidates ahead of the elections.

The statement maintained that Saraki’s lawyers would challenge the remaining charges in court.

“We want to further reiterate our assurances to members of the public, particularly supporters of Dr Saraki, that he remains unperturbed by the machinations of the Kwara State Government and that just as the earlier charge sheet collapsed like a badly arranged pack of cards, the amended charge will also fail in court because they are claims that cannot withstand the slightest judicial scrutiny,” the statement said.