The Office of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has described as mischievous and concocted allegations aimed at misleading the public with spurious claims that the Senate President allegedly owned the sum of N310million said to have been stolen from a Bureau de Change operator in November 2015, by suspected operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and some army personnel.
A statement by Media Office of the Senate President reiterated that Mr. Saraki, had nothing to do with the said stolen money by suspected security agents then and even now as being maliciously peddled by some online media to tarnish his image.
In the same vein, the DSS has also debunked the claim, saying it is a malicious falsehood as Mr. Saraki had no link whatsoever with the said stolen money.
“The story making the rounds that the sum of N310 million belonging to the Senate President was stolen in 2015 is a malicious falsehood.
“From our investigation, the money in question did not belong to the senate President or any member of the National Assembly for that matter.
“The investigation conducted by the DSS and the confessional statement made by Abdulrasheed Maigari, a suspect in the case, did not support this claim at all. Maigari’s recent claim in the media is nothing but a made up story to achieve a hidden motive. “The fact that Maigari, who is currently standing trial for an armed robbery case, could make up such a false claim is a further indication of how criminally minded he is.
“Indeed it was for his criminal behaviour that we dismissed him from the service in 2015 and subsequently charged him to court. “Any attempt to link the senate President or any member of the National Assembly with the stolen N310 million will be sheer blackmail and an outright mischief,” a top DSS official who preferred annonimity said on Sunday.
Reacting further, Media Aide to the Senate President, Sani Onogu, said “It would be recalled that when the incident was reported by the media in December 2015, a section of the online media which has become notorious for dragging the name of the Senate President into issues that he knows nothing about, the DSS issued a statement where it stated that it had arrested some of its men that partook in robbing a Bureau de Change operator in Abuja.
“This Office had also in a statement, in reaction to the false report, stated that the Senate President had nothing to do with the money allegedly stolen. We still insist that he has nothing to do with the money and we challenge those still rehashing the stale and fake news to avail themselves of the reports of the police and the DSS on the matter to avoid misleading members of the public unnecessarily.
“Let me state that the Senate President has no army personnel among his security details. Therefore, it becomes absurd for one of the suspect in the robbery to have claimed according to the report that the money was brought to the Senate President’s house from where they connived to steal it.
“The report remains a lie which must be disregarded by the public, and should it be recirculated tomorrow, it will still remain a lie. At best we count this unwarranted fake report as part of the April Fool ritual. But the public deserves a better deal from its sponsors and purveyors.
“Besides, the content and intention of the fake is nothing but baseless allegations emanating from the infantile minds of unreasonable interlopers, hell bent on rubbing mud on the reputation of a distinguished Nigerian, who is today in his capacity as the Senate President, is working assiduously with critical stakeholders to stabilize and grow our economy. Enough is enough.”
