Kwara youths attack Lai Mohammed over comment against Saraki

chika ebuzor

December 31, 2018 6:33 PM

According to the group, the minister’s persistent effort to link Saraki to the robbery shows he has a penchant for spreading falsehood.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed

Youths in Kwara state under the aegis of Kwara Youths Strategic Movement have called on the minister of information and culture to stop linking Senate president Bukola Saraki to the Offa bank robbery.

Over 30 people were killed when armed robbers attacked several banks in Offa, Kwara state in April 2018.

According to the group, the minister’s persistent effort to link Saraki to the robbery shows he has a penchant for spreading falsehood.

The group’s coordinator, Gegele Ahmed Ibrahim in a statement made available to Vanguard, “We are completely taken aback, by the statement credited to the Minister of information and culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed, in an attempt to score cheap political points, linking the Senate President to the Offa bank robbery.

“In the case of the Offa bank robbery, it is common place that the suspects arrested in connection with the robbery either implicated the Senate President or dropped his name in the course of investigation, despite unrestrained attempt by his political adversaries to implicate him.

“The Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, responded in writing to the Police when he was asked to do so, reiterating his innocence and till date, either the Nigerian police or any court of competent jurisdiction has found him culpable.

“Why then should a revered politician and senior citizen like Alhaji Lai Mohammed who should be an epitome of peaceful coexistence and an advocate for the rule of law, go completely berserk by claiming that the Senate President had a hand in the robbery.

"We call on the Minister of Information not to throw caution to the wind in an attempt to score cheap political points.

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“He must always remember that we all have a binding duty to uphold the ethos of fairness, equity and justice, any departure from this acceptable standard is disingenuous, mischievous and wicked! “We implore the general public to avoid playing politics with the unfortunate incident and avoid making statements capable of causing confusion, especially at this critical period when the 2019 election is fast approaching.”

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, in a letter to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris has said that there no evidence linking the Senate President, Bukola Saraki to the Offa robbery.

The AGF, in a letter obtained by Premium Times dated June 29, 2018, also advised the police not to identify Saraki as a suspect in the robbery.

chika ebuzor