Ilorin, Kwara State — Kwara’s worsening security nightmare has taken a dramatic political twist as Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq accused former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, of bearing responsibility for the state’s escalating violence, linking today’s bandit attacks to the infamous 2018 Offa bank robbery that left 33 people dead.
Speaking in Oke-Ode on Thursday, a visibly angered AbdulRazaq fired back at mounting criticisms of his government’s handling of insecurity, lashing out at Saraki and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for what he described as hypocrisy and selective amnesia.
> “It was under PDP. Bukola Saraki was their leader. Thirty-three people were killed in one day during the Offa robbery. Those boys were his boys — they even wore Aso Ebi from Saraki’s wedding and drove cars with his number plates,” the Governor alleged, in comments now trending online.
AbdulRazaq argued that Saraki has “no moral standing” to question his competence in the face of kidnappings, killings, and mass displacements currently ravaging Kwara communities.
“Thank God the culprits have now been sentenced to death. Saraki himself is in court because the families of Offa victims sued him. Let PDP first answer that case before talking about security in Kwara,” the Governor added.
The explosive remarks, amplified by state media handlers, have divided Kwara residents and sparked heated debate across Ilorin and beyond. While AbdulRazaq’s loyalists cheered his hard-hitting rhetoric, critics dismissed it as a desperate attempt to deflect blame and mask his administration’s slow, and often ineffective, response to banditry.
The Governor’s accusations resurface just weeks after a Kwara State High Court sentenced five men — Ayoade Akinnibosun, Azeez Salahudeen, Niyi Ogundiran, Ibikunle Ogunleye, and Adeola Abraham — to death by hanging for their roles in the blood-soaked Offa robbery.
Justice Haleema Salman found the defendants guilty of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms, and culpable homicide. “The five of you shall be hanged on your neck until you are dead, to serve as a lesson to others,” she ruled, drawing a grim closure to one of Nigeria’s most notorious criminal trials.
Yet, for many residents, closure remains elusive. The trauma of Offa lingers, and fresh scars are being cut daily as gunmen unleash terror from Oke-Ode to Patigi.
In recent weeks, coordinated raids have emptied villages, claimed lives, and torn families apart.
In Ogbayo, bandits killed 12 vigilantes and the community’s Baale during a predawn assault.
In Essanti, daylight kidnappers snatched two sons of a youth leader, boasting they were “reducing the need for night invasions.”
In Marri village, gunmen attacked under pounding rain, killing one, injuring another, and stealing motorcycles before military reinforcements arrived.
The wave of violence has forced desperate families to flee their homes, while local vigilantes — outgunned and under-equipped — struggle to defend their communities.
The Governor’s credibility on security was further dented last month when his aide, Olayinka Fafoluyi (popularly known as Solace), was caught sharing old photographs of Nigerian Air Force strikes in Borno State, presenting them as fresh operations in Kwara. Fact-checkers traced the images to “Operation HADIN KAI” in the North-East, exposing the attempt at propaganda.
Residents condemned the misinformation as insensitive and insulting, especially as real attacks continued to claim lives in Kwara’s heartland.
While AbdulRazaq and Saraki trade barbs, many Kwarans say the political blame game only underscores the absence of a coherent security plan.
“Instead of weaponising Offa to score points, the Governor should be telling us how he plans to stop these killings,” said Ibrahim Adebayo, a teacher from Patigi who recently fled his village with his family.
For now, the specter of Offa — and the blood of fresh victims — hangs over Kwara, deepening the sense of despair in a state once regarded as one of Nigeria’s most peaceful.
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