Kwara applies to drop 18 of its 20 Offa charges against Saraki and Ahmed and proceed on four counts instead
Kwara State's prosecution has applied to the state high court in Ilorin to replace its 20-count charge against former Senate President Bukola Saraki and former governor Abdulfatah Ahmed with an amended four-count charge. The application, dated 6 November, drops the armed-robbery, culpable-homicide and firearms allegations: two counts on belonging to a gang of thieves are retained, and two new counts allege concealing a Lexus vehicle. It is an application awaiting the court's decision, not a ruling — the defendants have not entered pleas and the trial has not begun. Saraki's office calls the withdrawal an admission the original case was unfounded and alleges political persecution; the state government has not answered that allegation in the reporting read.
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Key points
- Kwara's prosecution has applied — not yet been granted permission — to cut its Offa charge from 20 counts to four.
- The dropped 18 counts carried the armed-robbery, police-deaths and firearms allegations.
- What remains: two gang-of-thieves counts, plus two new counts over concealing a Lexus vehicle.
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- No pleas have been entered and the trial has not begun; Saraki's office alleges political persecution.
What happened
On 5 April 2018, robbers raided several banks and attacked a police station in Offa, Kwara State, killing 33 people, among them 12 police officers. Five men were convicted of the robbery in September 2024, and their convictions were upheld on appeal in January 2026. Days after the robbery, police alleged the gang's leader had worked for Saraki — an allegation Saraki has always denied, and the gang leader told the court he had been pressed to implicate him.
In April 2026, eight years after the robbery, the Kwara government filed its fresh 20-count charge against Saraki, Ahmed and two former aides. The case has since been held up by preliminary arguments: on 5 November the trial judge reserved his ruling on whether arraignment can proceed while a stay application is before the Court of Appeal, which adjourned its own hearing to 12 November. The allegations against all four defendants remain accusations, not findings.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- What the prosecution has applied to do, in the filing's own terms: 20 counts replaced by four, with the armed-robbery allegations dropped.
- That the court has not yet ruled on the application, no pleas have been entered, and the trial has not begun.
- Saraki's office's response, in its own words: the withdrawal is an admission the original case was unfounded, and the prosecution is political persecution.
What we don't know yet
- Whether the court will grant the application to amend the charge.
- The Kwara government's answer to Saraki's office's persecution allegation — it was not in the reporting read.
- The Court of Appeal's ruling on the stay application, adjourned to 12 November.
Claim by claim
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Why this label: The filing's contents are reported in the same terms by TheCable, the Lagos Post and Chronicle NG, which read the amended charge sheet. One report's headline said 16 charges were dropped while its own text gives the same two-retained, two-new breakdown; 18 is the arithmetic of the filing as reported (20 minus the 2 retained).
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The dropped allegations and the original filing date are stated in TheCable's and the Lagos Post's reports of the two charge sheets.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The motion's own wording, as quoted by TheCable and the Lagos Post. Until the court grants it, the 20-count charge is the charge on record.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The statement is Saraki's side's position, verified as what his office said — reported by TheCable, Chronicle NG and Premium Times' account of the same statement. The Kwara government's answer to the persecution allegation was not in the reporting read.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why it matters
The Offa case is one of Nigeria's most politically charged prosecutions: a former Senate president and a former governor accused over the country's most notorious bank robbery. Dropping the robbery allegations themselves — if the court allows it — rewrites what the state says it can prove, eight years on, while the narrower charges that remain still have to survive the same court.
Background
Show the background timeline (4)
Robbers raid banks and attack a police station in Offa, Kwara State, killing 33 people, including 12 police officers.
A Kwara high court convicts five men of the robbery; their convictions are upheld on appeal in January 2026.
The Kwara government files a fresh 20-count charge against Saraki, Ahmed and two former aides.
The prosecution applies to replace the 20 counts with four — dropping the armed-robbery allegations and adding two vehicle-concealment counts.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
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Published in Checking state — the prosecution's application to amend the charge is filed, and the court's decision on it, and the state government's answer to the persecution allegation, are still awaited.