Offa in Kwara state and Ilorin , the state capital were yesterday charged as scores of supporters of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, took to the streets to protest his invitation by the police over recent armed robbery incident in Offa.
The people of Offa, the scene of the bloody armed robbery attacks of April 5, said they did not believe that the Senate President had anything to do with the incident.
Similarly, in Ilorin, a coalition of Kwara youths under the aegis of Kwara Agenda, asked the federal government and the Nigeria Police to stop politicising the Offa robbery incident.
Also, elders of Ajikobi Central Ward in the Ilorin West local government area of the state, where Saraki hails from, said they received with shock the invitation of the Senate President by the police in respect of the unfortunate Offa armed robbery attack.
High Chief Bayo Akinola, who addressed newsmen in Offa yesterday on behalf of Olofa, Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi Esuwoye II, said that the community had left “what has happened to God, but we don’t want the innocent to be punished. We want police to go after the real culprits.”
Akinola’s view was corroborated by the General Secretary of Offa Descendants Union (ODU), Chief Atinuke Wosilat McCarty.
The elders of Ajikobi Central, in a statement signed by their coordinator, Alhaji Salihu AbdulWahab Agbaji, said “it is illogical and unthinkable that the Senate President and the political leader of Kwara state will ask bandits to kill the citizens that he leads.
“’The plot against our son is as a result of his growing popularity across the country, a situation which is making some of his political rivals uncomfortable. We urge President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently call the Inspector General of Police to order so as to allow our hard earned democracy to blossom.”
Members of the coalition of Kwara youths during a peaceful protest from the hinterland of Ilorin metropolis to the Press Centre of the NUJ in GRA, condemned the invitation extended to Saraki by the police over the Offa robbery incident.
The youths, in their hundreds, carried placards with various inscription, such as “Stop evil politics,” Be professional”, “No to over politicisation of Offa robbery”, “Saraki is not an armed robber’, “Don’t implicate Saraki.”
Addressing newsmen, the coordinator, Kwara Agenda, Haruna Yakub Kannike, said that the group was surprised by police invitation of Saraki over Offa robbery incident, adding that, “nothing can be farther from the truth!”
