The President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, said yesterday that he lost N12 million to burglars in his Ilorin, Kwara State home. News of the robbery was first revealed by an online news portal, which alleged that N300 million mysteriously disappeared from the Senate President’s bedroom.
The online news medium claimed the alleged N300 million was provided by the Kwara State government and was in different foreign currencies. The money was reportedly meant to serve as Ramadan handout to be distributed by the Senate President to supporters. Saraki Saraki, however, denied the details of the robbery, which, he said, was being currently investigated by the police in Ilorin.
The Senate President, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, also rejected the online narrative that his domestic aides were culpable. He said: “There is, therefore, no truth in the claim that the money ran into hundreds of millions, that it was in foreign currency or that the incident happened in Dr. Saraki’s room. ‘’The amount was simply in Naira. Also, the money has nothing to do with Kwara State government. “For the umpteenth time, we need to reiterate the fact that the fixation that any money spent by Saraki or that is in his possession is from Kwara State government is unfounded, unwarranted, lacks any basis and irresponsible. ‘’We wonder whether Saraki was such a poor man before 2003 when he was elected governor that he could no longer own any money without it being attributed to the state government. “We call on all members of the public to ignore all the claims in the story. Dr. Saraki will allow the police to do their work and unravel the person or persons behind this theft in the Administrative Office,” he stated.
Kwara State government also denied the report that Saraki demanded the N300 million from it and that it provided the money that was stolen from the Ilorin residence of the Senate President who was also a two-term governor of the state and the political leader of the mainstream All Progressives Congress, APC in the state. The state government in its official Facebook page, claimed ignorance of the source of the money, saying it was inconceivable for the state which is currently facing serious economic challenges to have afforded such. The statement, which was repeatedly posted yesterday, read thus: We didn’t give Dr. Saraki money for Ramadan “It has come to our attention that Sahara Reporters has published a story claiming that the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, demanded and received N300m from Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed, for the Ramadan. “We regard this as the latest episode in Sahara Reporters’ serial campaign of falsehood against Dr. Bukola Saraki and the state he once governed. It is certainly inconceivable that a state government that received N800m in statutory allocation in May but requires N2.1 billion monthly for salaries alone will indulge in such act.”