Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has again faulted those linking him and Senate President Bukola Saraki to the robbery incident that claimed many lives in Offa.
The governor condemned the action during an interview on Channels Television’s Roadmap 2019, a special political programmed aired on Mondays.
“It is only laughable to see and hear that I would be involved, or the Senate President would be involved in a process that will be counterproductive to what we are putting resources in, to ensure that the lives and activities of people change for the better,” he said.
Governor Ahmed wondered how such allegation could be made against him and the Senate President, having spent many years trying to improve service delivery and ensuring that democracy dividends reach the people.
He faulted the situation where people make very serious statements to indict senior citizens on a national television instead of focusing on how to nip the crime in the bud.
“I think we should begin to look at more seriously how we should begin to take security issues because as it were, the economy of Kwara is highly dependent on commercial activities,” the governor said.
He further explained that the state government had to re-engineer its internally generated revenue collection in Offa after the incident had slowed down the economic activities in the community.
Governor Ahmed, however, stressed that it was time to look more seriously at those issues that would change the economic situation in Nigeria and reform the security position to give more confidence and comfort to the people.
Several persons were killed when about dozens of gunmen raided some commercial banks on April 5 in Offa town, the headquarters of Offa Local Government Area of the state.
The suspected armed robbers were said to have killed at least 30 people and reportedly attacked a police station in the area during the incident.
Some of the suspects were later arrested after a thorough investigation by the police, leading to the indictment of the Senate President and the governor by some of the said culprits.
Senator Saraki and Governor Ahmed have since denied any connection with the suspects and condemned the allegations as baseless.
