Offa Robbery: Families Of Victims Exonerate Saraki, Say ‘Stop Exploiting Our Grief’

By Akinwale Kasali

“Our loved ones would not have wanted their deaths to be used as tools for political manipulation”

Years after the Offa Bank Robbery incident that claimed several lives, Dr Bukola Saraki, former Senate President, has persistently been linked to the incident.

However, families of tye victims of that fatal robbery incident have appealed to Nigerians to, as a matter of urgency, disregard persistent claims linking the former Kwara State Governor to the incident.

The victims’ families condemned what they described as the politicization of their loss, saying it is uncalled for.

In a statement, the families, who were duly represented by Alhaji Abdul Oseni Aditu Eniolohunpa, Hajia Mulikat Jimoh, and Danjuma Comfort, who spoke on Radio TNT in Offa, Kwara State, in addressing the renewed debates surrounding the tragedy, distanced Saraki from the incident.

Abdul lost his 27-year-old son in the robbery, Hajia Mulikat, the mother of one of the victims, and Mrs Danjuma, the wife of a slain police officer, stressed that their loved ones were victims of a criminal attack and appealed for an end to political exploitation of their grief.

It would be recalled that the tragic Offa bank robbery took place on April 5, 2018, which saw heavily armed robbers attack several banks and a police station. They left 33 people dead, including security personnel.

Since then, the incident has remained a subject of political controversy, with some attempting to link it to prominent figures such as including Saraki.

The families revealed they had previously been approached by individuals urging them to make public statements implicating Saraki in the attack, but believe it is all politically motivated to smear his name.

The families said they rejected such attempts, insisting that their loved ones were victims of a violent crime and that it was unjust for anyone to exploit their tragedy for political ends.

The families also expressed disappointment over the lack of support or compensation from the government since the incident, noting that their priority remains justice and healing, not politics.

They unanimously appealed to Nigerians to focus on preventing similar tragedies in future rather than fuelling political debates on the issue that has left a vacuum in their lives through the death of their loved ones.

“Our loved ones would not have wanted their deaths to be used as tools for political manipulation.

“We call on the public to honour the memory of the victims by refusing to allow their pain to be turned into a political weapon”, the statement reads.