The Chairman of the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Iyiola Oyedepo, has expressed support for the police in its invitation of Senate President Bukola Saraki over the Offa Bank Robbery.
Arrested suspects in the infamous April 5 robbery had claimed to be political thugs of Saraki and his political protege, Abdulfatah Ahmed, who is the Kwara State Governor.
The police subsequently invited Saraki to meet a team of investigators in its Force Intelligent Response Team (FIRT) to clear himself of charges of arming the suspects.
The police invitation had generated much furore, with many Nigerians alleging political witch-hunt by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
But speaking with The Punch, Oyedepo dispelled that Saraki was being witch-hunted and called for more understanding with the police in view of the sensitive nature of the matter.
He said, “No, I do not think so (that it’s political witch-hunt). We must be objective in all our analysis or presentation on this matter. We should not tell lies against anybody. The grievances of the nPDP are not the same thing with the criminal allegations levelled against the Senate President and the governor. If they are pursuing their demands within their party without any link to crime, nobody will accuse them of committing any crime. Their nPDP activities have nothing to do with sponsoring thugs in Kwara State. If they did not sponsor thugs and if those thugs did not make any confession, I believe that the Presidency and the police will not manufacture lies against the Senate President and the governor. For instance, I do not believe that the suspects were induced to make confessional statements because those boys are closely associated with the Government of Kwara State. Secondly, the state government and Saraki have bought vehicles for the boys and I have had cause to raise the alarm on a radio programme to condemn the action in the immediate past. The vehicles in possession of the boys are without registered numbers. They were driving them around with customised number plates which have Saraki’s name inscribed on them.
“The fact that the boys were (allegedly) on the payroll of the state government was enough to dismiss insinuations that Saraki and Ahmed are being unnecessarily victimised by the police. So, it is better for them to go and clear the grey areas before creating an impression that they are being persecuted. I don’t believe that they are suffering any form of persecution.”
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