President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki has revealed that some burglars stormed his administrative office, close to his house in Kwara state two weeks ago and made away with N12 million.
Saraki disclosed this while reacting to a report by online news site, Sahara Reporters that robbers stormed his room and carted away millions in foreign currency.
In a statement released and signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Pubicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the Senate President debunked claims that hundreds of millions in foreign currency belonging to the Kwara State government was stolen from his home.
The statement reads:
“There is therefore no truth in the claim by SaharaReporters 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 SaharaReporters’ 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 SaharaReporters attributing the source to the State Government.
“In its usual unethical and disgraceful haste to assassinate the Character of the Senate President, SaharaReporters ignored the simple professional practice for it to contact the Police to find out the facts of the incident. It merely created its own usually fictional story and published it.
“This is an online publication that cares not about its credibility or the journalism credo that facts are sacred and opinion is free.
“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.
The latest heist of Mr. Saraki’s funds is coming 6 months after two State Security Services agents in his security detail allegedly participated in an armed robbery of a bureau de change operator.
The two officials, Ahmadu Maigari and George Ibbi, colluded with other colleagues in the service and military personnel to carry out the heist, the SSS said in a December 6, 2015 statement.
