At Ibadan Summit, Opposition Parties Unveil Plans to Field One Presidential Candidate in 2027
Demand INEC chairman’s resignation Ask electoral umpire to extend deadline for party primaries to end of July
Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan
As part of their renewed
determination to wrestle power from President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress
(APC), the major opposition parties, at a historic national summit held yesterday in Ibadan,
Oyo State capital, announced plans to field one presidential candidate in the 2027 general
election. The opposition parties made the declaration in a
communiqué issued at the Continued on page 5
Tuggar Declares Interest in 2027 Bauchi Governorship Race… Page 7 Sunday, April 26, 2026 Vol 31. No 11340
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US Secret Service Evacuates Trump from White House Correspondents’ Dinner after Gunshots Talks with Iran suffer setback as Trump cancels envoys’ trip to Pakistan
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PRESS STATEMENT BY KWARA STATE GOVERNMENT On the Trial of Senator Saraki and Others in Respect of the Offa Robbery Incident Our attention has been drawn to a statement by His Excellency Senator Bukola Saraki in which he claims that the charges preferred against him and other defendants in relation to the horrific armed robbery incident that took place in Offa, Kwara State, on 5 April 2018, amount to a malicious witch-hunt by the Kwara State Government and an attempt to tarnish his name, especially in view of his assertion that he had earlier been “exonerated” by the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in an advice dated June 22, 2018 and August 24, 2018. Having filed the charges in court, the matter is now sub judice. As a responsible government, we must respect the rule of law and the administration of justice by refraining from statements that could be perceived as capable of interfering with the judicial process. Accordingly, we do not intend to join issues with Senator Saraki on this matter. at said, it is important to restate the background facts that gave rise to the charges now before the court. On 5 April 2018, the armed robbery incident took place in the vibrant city of Offa, Kwara State. e incident sent shockwaves not only through the immediate community but across Kwara State and the entire country. At least 33 persons were murdered in cold blood and in broad daylight, including nine police officers on national service. Convictions have since been recorded by the courts, including the Court of Appeal which gave its judgment in January 2026. e evidence before the court, together with the confessional statements of the convicts, unequivocally spoke to alleged relationships with their Excellencies, Senator Bukola Saraki, Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed, and other officials of government at the time. Among other things, in their confessional statements to the
police (in writing and on video) and in the proof of evidence filed before the court, the convicts specifically stated that they received operational support from the “leader”, Senator Bukola Saraki, through the then Chief of Staff to the Governor, Yusuf Abdulwahab.
defendants have an unfettered constitutional right to answer and contest. e State has no interest in any witch-hunt or victimisation. However, to ignore the evidence would amount to an abdication of duty and would effectively suggest that certain persons are above the law.
ey alleged that such operational support included vehicles, cash gis, and arms (AK 47 rifles). ey further stated that they travelled to the scene of the robbery in one of the vehicles so provided and that, aer the operation, the vehicle was taken to the Kwara State Government House where it was hidden. It was later taken to the State Ministry of Environment, from where it was recovered during investigation and tendered as an exhibit. Abdulwahab himself has since confirmed that he knows the convicts. Furthermore, one of the convicts, Akinnibosun, was on Senator Bukola Saraki’s entourage to Offa when he visited to condole with victims of the same armed robbery incident. Akinnibosun was also photographed in aso ebi with Senator Saraki at the wedding of his child.
Finally, we address His Excellency Senator Saraki's claim that a “report” of the DPP at the Federal Ministry of Justice has already exonerated him. ere are many reasons why, by no stretch of the imagination, the so-called report can be regarded as an exoneration. e document in question was an advice, not a vindication or a final conclusion. Even if it were otherwise, in the overall context it would be of little or no value or relevance to the present charges. First, it is the exclusive duty of the Honourable Attorney General of the State to prosecute alleged crimes committed within the State. e unprecedentedly cruel and horrific murder and armed robbery in question took place in Offa, Kwara State, and not in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where the Federal DPP’s advice may have any relevance. Second, the so-called report in fact called for further investigation. Particularly instructive is that the court proceedings that led to the convictions had not even commenced when the DPP’s advice was issued. So, the evidence had not been evaluated by the courts and no convictions had been recorded.
In the face of the foregoing , no responsible government ought to turn a blind eye to the evidence available to it. People have been prosecuted for less. e fact that highly placed persons were implicated by the convicts should not be a reason for the State to abdicate its statutory responsibilities. Everyone must be treated equally before the law. e timeless words of Lord Denning come to mind: “Be you ever so high, the law is above you, and there is no one who is above the law.” We further emphasise that no prosecutor determines guilt; that is the exclusive function of the court. e only step taken by the State prosecutors is the filing of charges based on the evidence available to them, charg es which Senator Saraki and the other
His Excellency Saraki and others have an undoubted constitutional right to defend the charges against themselves, and we hope they will exercise that right in the appropriate forum—the courts of law Bolanle Olukoju Commissioner for Communications Kwara State Government April 25, 2026