TheCable

The prosecution department of Kwara ministry of justice says Senate President Bukola Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed, the state’s governor, were not indicted in statements made by suspected cultists to the police.

On Wednesday, Saraki had alleged that Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police (IGP), ordered the transfer of suspected cultists to Abuja where their statements would be altered to implicate him and the state government in a crime.

In response, the police dismissed the allegation as false and said, “nobody, no matter how highly placed would be allowed to interfere or obstruct police investigation to pervert the course of justice”.

But on Thursday, the chief magistrate court in Illorin asked the Kwara deputy commissioner of police to return the suspected cultists transferred to Abuja.

In a statement on Saturday, Jimoh Mumini, director of prosecution in the state’s ministry of justice, dismissed reports that the suspects had indicted Saraki and the governor in their statements.

Mumini said they stand by the charges they had already filed against the cultists at a high court.

“We want to state categorically that there is no iota of truth in the said story. Our belief that the said story is false arose from the fact that the summary of the statement voluntarily made by the suspects and on the basis of which they were recommended for trial in Ilorin is contained in the press statement read by the police commissioner on May 10, 2018,” the statement read.

“We maintain that there was no portion of the press statement where the suspects were said to have indicted any top personality.

“For emphasis, let us restate the fact that on the basis of the statement obtained from the accused, the police had issued a statement read publicly at the May 10 press conference in the state capital and there was no mention of their naming or implicating any top government official at the state or federal level.”