KWARA AMENDS OFFA ROBBERY CHARGES, RETAINS FOUR COUNTS AGAINST SARAKI, AHMED
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By: Hammad Fasasi
The Kwara State Government has amended its original 20-count charge against two former governors, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed, over the 2018 Offa bank robbery case, dropping 18 charges and retaining two while introducing two additional counts.
The amendment effectively reduces the total number of charges to four, according to the revised charge sheet, numbered KWS/114C/2026, signed by the State Attorney-General, Senior Ibrahim Sulyman (SAN), and obtained by journalists in Ilorin.
In the amended charges, Counts 1 and 2 accuse Saraki, Ahmed, Yusuf Abdulwahab and Alabi Olalekan of conspiring to belong to a gang of thieves and belonging to a gang of thieves.
Counts 3 and 4 accuse the four defendants of concealing and causing the disappearance of a vehicle allegedly used for an illegal purpose.
The prosecution has also filed a motion on notice dated November 6, 2026, seeking the court’s approval for the amended charges. The application is supported by a six-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Sulyman Mohammed-Jamiu, a litigation clerk in the office of the Kwara State Attorney-General.
At the last sitting of the Kwara State High Court on November 5, 2026, Justice Osuolale Ajayi reserved his ruling on whether the court could proceed with the arraignment while an application for a stay of proceedings remained pending before the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court had, on November 3, advised counsel to Ahmed, J. A. Mumini (SAN), to formally file an application seeking an order directing parties at the trial court to maintain the status quo ante bellum, rather than relying on his earlier oral submission.
The Court of Appeal subsequently adjourned the matter until November 12, 2026.
The trial, which commenced in April 2026, has yet to proceed to the substantive hearing, as the court continues to address preliminary legal issues that have also been taken before the appellate court.
Reacting to the development, a member of the legal team representing Saraki and Ahmed described the prosecution’s efforts to pursue charges against the former governors as “a mockery of the judicial process and an exercise in futility”.
Vanguard also reported that the Kwara State Government’s inability to make progress in the case may be connected to two legal opinions issued in 2018 by the Office of the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions under the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
According to the report, the opinions were issued after a review of the police investigation file on the Offa robbery incident, with the federal prosecutors concluding that there was no evidence directly or remotely linking Saraki or Ahmed to the robbery.
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