Senate President drops biggest hint he's ready to leave APC after Offa robbery allegations resurface
The Senate President alleged that a new invitation by the Police is a ploy to force him to stay in the APC against his wishes.
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As part of the New-PDP faction that orignially formed the APC and then a reported member of the Reformed APC faction that has threatened to break away, many have anticipated the Senate President's departure from the APC back to the People's Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform he was elected twice as Kwara State governor.
With the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, summoning Saraki for the second time to answer questions on his alleged links to the Offa robbery incident that led to the death of 33 people, the Senate President has dropped the biggest hint that he's close to leaving the ruling party.
In June, the police had linked Saraki to the ringleader of the Offa Robbery, Ayodele Akinnibosun (aka, AY), who alleged that he was a political thug for Saraki. Even though he was first summoned, he was later asked to send in a written response, which he did.
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However the IGP has asked Saraki to report at the Force Intelligence Response Team at Guzape, Abuja on Tuesday, July 24, 2018, for further investigation over the April 5 Offa bank robbery.
In response to the new summon, Saraki accused the IGP of being a tool in a political game orchestrated by the "party in power to suppress perceived opponents". He said the invitation is a clear ploy to stop the defection of certain members of the National Assembly from the ruling party.
"I have 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 that if I was detained between Tuesday and Wednesday, that will abort the so-called defection plan," he said.
While maintaining his innocence on his alleged involvement with the robbery whose investigation he alleged has been "corrupted and politicised" by the police, the Senate President said its intent to stop him and his colleagues from leaving the party will fail.
"This plot aimed at compelling me and my associates to stay in a party where members are criminalised without just cause, where injustice is perpetrated at the highest level and where there is no respect for constitutionalism is an exercise in futility and it will fail," he noted, with a hint that suggests he's getting ever closer to the exit door.
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Buhari-Saraki crisis meeting
The summon by the police comes just days after the Senate President met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in a meeting that's widely been reported to have been one where the president tried to mend fences.
In the Thursday, July 19 meeting, the president is reported to have appealed to Saraki to stick with the ruling party, especially since he's considered to be the most influential member looking to jump ship to the opposition.
The meeting between the two is reported to have been inconclusive as Saraki failed to assure the president that he would stay with the APC.
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Saraki's links to Offa robbery gang
In his confessions to the police and the media, Akinnibosun said that Saraki and Kwara state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, are his political sponsors.
He said, "I am the chairman of Liberation Youths Movement, Kwara South. My involvement with the senate president is we're his boys; we work for him at Kwara South. We're the ones that hold Kwara South for him. We've been working for him since he was Governor of Kwara.
"We mobilise and do political arrangement there (Kwara South). For example, where we can't win, we make dabaru (disruptive) arrangement there; we scatter elections if we don't win."
Nine police officers and 24 others lost their lives when a group of around 30 armed robbers attacked Union Bank, Eco Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank, Zenith Bank and Ibolo Micro Finance Bank,as well as the Owode Police Stationin Offa on April 5, 2018.
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Akinnibosun also admitted that Saraki, who has denied any links with the group, did not know about the robbery.
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