Offa robbery: Victims’ families ask Nigerians to disregard blackmail against Saraki

Families of the victims of the 2018 Offa bank robbery have appealed to Nigerians to ignore persistent claims linking former Senate President Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki to the tragic incident.

In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja, the families represented by Alhaji Abdul Oseni Aditu Eniolohunpa, Hajia Mulikat Jimoh, and Mrs. Danjuma Comfort condemned what they described as the politicisation of their loss.

They spoke on Radio TNT in Offa to address renewed debates surrounding the attack.

Alhaji Abdul, who lost his 27-year-old son, Hajia Mulikat, the mother of one victim, and Mrs. Danjuma, the wife of a slain police officer, stressed that their loved ones were victims of a criminal attack, not political pawns. They rejected previous attempts by individuals urging them to publicly implicate Dr. Saraki.

The Offa bank robbery, which occurred on April 5, 2018, involved heavily armed robbers attacking banks and a police station, leaving 33 people dead, including civilians and security personnel.

The families lamented the lack of government support or compensation since the tragedy and urged Nigerians to prioritise justice and prevention of future attacks rather than political disputes.

“Our loved ones would not have wanted their deaths to be used as tools for political manipulation,” they said, appealing to the public to honour the victims by rejecting attempts to politicise their deaths.

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