Offa Bank Robbery: Kwara Govt Drops 18 Criminal Charges against Saraki, Ahmed, Add Two New Charges

The Kwara State Government has filed an amendment to its 20-count charge against two former governors of the state, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed, over the 2018 Offa bank robbery case.
The government, however, dropped 18 of the original charges while retaining only two, and adding two new charges.

In the amended charge sheet with Charge Number: KWS/114C/2026 signed by the State Attorney General, Senior Ibrahim Sulyman (SAN), which was sighted by THISDAY on Friday, the government reduced the total number of charges to four.

In the new charge sheet, counts 1 and 2, accused Saraki, Ahmed, Yusuf Abdulwahab and Alabi Olalekan of “conspiring to belong to gang of thieves” and “belonging to gang of thieves”.
Also, counts 3 and 4 accused the quartet of concealment and disappearance of a “vehicle used for illegal purpose”.

A motion on notice for the amended charges dated November 6, 2026, has been filed by the prosecution and supported by a six-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Sulyman Mohammed-Jamiu, a litigation clerk in the office of the Kwara State AG.

With the new development, the Kwara State Government has dropped all charges relating to armed robbery concerning the Offa bank robbery case against the former President of the Senate, Saraki; Ahmed and the two other defendants who were aides to the immediate past governor.

It would be recalled that at the last sitting of the State High Court on the case on November 5, 2026, the judge, Justice Osuolale Ajayi reserved his ruling on the issue of whether he could continue with the arraignment when the defendant has a pending application for a stay of proceedings on the matter at the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal on November 3, 2026 advised the lawyer to Ahmed, Mr J. A. Mumini (SAN), to make a formal application for the court to issue an order that the parties at the trial court should maintain status quo ante bellum, instead of the oral submission that he made to the court.

The appellate court then adjourned the case to November 12, 2026.

The case at the trial court which commenced in April 2026 has not proceeded to trial as the court is still mired in several preliminary issues which have been taken to the appellate court.

When contacted, a member of Saraki and Ahmed’s legal team described the struggle by the prosecution to press charges against the two former governors as “a mockery of the judicial process and an exercise in futility”.

The lawyer noted that it was “a funny turn of events to accuse two former governors of belonging to a gang of thieves.
“This is not just a disgrace to the institution of governorship of our dear state; it is also a drag on the name of our dear state in the mud.
“And all this struggle is just because the present government desperately wants to see the former governors in the dock. They moved from the case of armed robbery to joining a gang of thieves.

“It is clear that the government is bereft of ideas on how to achieve its aim”.
The lawyer added that, “The present charge sheet like the one they abandoned will record no success.
“It will fall like a pack of badly arranged cards. We will meet them in court.
“This is why we believe the AG should be more assertive in advising his principal to stop chasing shadows.

“They must have resorted to this new amendment to the charges after realising they will not be able to achieve their aims with the unwieldy list of charges earlier filed. The new charges will not turn out better”.

Attempts by THISDAY to get the State AG and other lawyers to the government to respond to the new development concerning the amended charges were not successful.
However, sources close to the state government told THISDAY that the amendment came as a result of advice by the AG and other members of the prosecution team that the former charge sheet cannot help the government to nail the defendants.(Thisday)