The Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has insisted that the Senate President, Dr. the Bukola Saraki, should be investigated by the police on the allegations levelled against him by the Offa bank robbery suspects.
The police had recently invited the Senate President for explanations on the allegations against him by the robbery suspects that he was their godfather.
Speaking with our correspondent, some stalwarts of the PDP in Kwara State said the allegation against the Saraki called for thorough scrutiny, as the robbers’ confession could hardly be wished off.
The state chairman of the party, Iyiola Oyedepo Akogun, averred that the Senate President does not possess immunity that will deter him from honouring police invitation for possible explanation.
“He is being investigated and there is nothing bad in being investigated, because, he has no immunity. Even those that have immunity do not have immunity against investigation. He should go to the Police headquarters and get investigated properly.”
Akogun also noted that the only way the Senate President could clear his name was to forgo his position and surrender himself for “proper investigation”.
“I am seriously in support of him being investigated so that a situation whereby a politician makes use of thugs will not occur in the coming general election.”
Akogun, however, maintained that immediate investigations should be made into the case in order to get explanations to the criminal aspects of the case.
“The Chief of Staff is alleged to have supplied those weapons and the Chief of Staff is working for the state governor and the Senate President. This is not only the case. These suspects are allegedly on the payroll of the Senate President and that of Kwara State, so what is the connection with the culprits and the Senate President?
“The investigation will unravel the truth and make everyone to know who actually is telling the truth among the two of them. What I am trying to say is that, before there can be prosecution, there will be investigation.
“At the end of the day, if the investigation reveals that the Senate President should be prosecuted, then he should be prosecuted and investigations revealed that those boys should be prosecuted, then they should be.
The only person that shouldn’t be prosecuted now is the governor and his judgement will await him in future when he descends from the tower. A criminal case will always be there for those who must have committed it. It is not time bound; the bottom-line is that, there must be punishment for whosoever commits an obstruction.”
“I am a lawyer, I am not saying the allegations are false or true. There is a wide gap between investigation and proof. Let them be investigated to show whether they are guilty or not. They will be taken to court if guilty, but the first stage is allegation; they have been accused, from allegation to investigation from that to prosecution and from there you become a convict.”
Meanwhile, a member of PDP in the state, Kayode Oyin Zubair, also said the police should not hesitate to investigate the Senate president over the accusation against him.
“As a political party, we have not come up with any position on that; we are waiting for the investigation of the police. We believe that the Nigeria Police Force is very efficient and can do a very diligent investigation into the Offa bank
robbery.
“Therefore, we are waiting for the investigation to be concluded by the police before we can make our position known. I am still saying that everything remains in the realm of allegation and as you are aware, investigations are ongoing,” he said.