{"id":62491,"date":"2018-06-04T04:27:58","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T03:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=62491"},"modified":"2018-06-04T04:27:58","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T03:27:58","slug":"i-have-no-link-with-offa-robbers-says-saraki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/i-have-no-link-with-offa-robbers-says-saraki\/","title":{"rendered":"I have no link with Offa Robbers, says Saraki"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\">Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday denied any links with the<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">criminal elements, who robbed banks in Offa and killed 33 people.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">He however said he would visit the police after receiving a formal<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">invitation.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">Saraki\u2019s position is contained in a statement last night by his spokesman<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">Yusuph Olaniyonu, who described his invitation as \u201cpart of the plan to<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">abuse of the criminal investigation process aimed at intimidating and<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">over-overawing the legislature, thereby obstructing it from doing its<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">work\u201d.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">The statement said: \u201cDr. Saraki will want the entire public to disregard<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">this claim as a baseless allegation and another ploy by the Police to<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">implicate him by all means.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u201cLet it be known that there is no way I could have been associated with<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">armed robbery against my people. When the Offa robbery incident happened,<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">I was the first top public official to pay a visit to the place and right<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">there in the palace of the traditional ruler, I put a call through to this<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">same Mr. Ibrahim Idris, the IGP, requesting him to make certain specific<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">security arrangements as demanded by the people.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u201cMembers of the public will remember that on May 16, 2018, I alerted the<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">Senate about the information passed on to me by my State Governor, Dr.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">Abdulfatai Ahmed, over a plot by the Inspector General of Police, Mr.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">Ibrahim Idris, to frame me up by getting some suspected cultists arrested<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">in Ilorin to implicate me. It is believed that the timely leakage of the<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">plot in that case aborted the use of the suspected cultists to implicate<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">me. Now, it is the Offa bank robbery suspects that are about to be used.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThis plot is concocted to embarrass me and, in the mind of the IGP, it is<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">his own response after his refusal to honour the invitation by the<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">National Assembly, headed by me, for him to come and offer explanations on<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">the rampant killings and violence across the country.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u201cLike the earlier one, this frame-up will also fail as I hereby state<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">categorically that I have no link with any band of criminals.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAs a person who has utmost respect for the rule of law and all<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">constitutional institutions, when the invitation from the Police is<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">formally extended to me, I will be ready to honour it without any delay.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt is however sad that this abuse of the criminal investigation process<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">aimed at intimidating and over-overawing the legislature, thereby<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">obstructing it from doing its work, is a big threat to our democracy \u201c.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday denied any links with the criminal elements, who robbed banks in Offa and killed 33 people. He however said he would visit the police after&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I have no link with Offa Robbers, says Saraki - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/i-have-no-link-with-offa-robbers-says-saraki\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I have no link with Offa Robbers, says Saraki - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday denied any links with the criminal elements, who robbed banks in Offa and killed 33 people. 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