Saraki insists N310m wasn’t stolen from him, says enough is enough

Nigeria’s Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has warned those allegedly working hard to tarnish his image and name through fabricated stories and allegations that enough is enough.

Saraki gave the warning on Sunday even as he said that the alleged sum of N310million said to have been stolen from his home was not true.

Reports had claimed that N310million belonging to the Senate President was stolen from a Bureau de Change operator in November 2015.

And just recently a 35-year-old kidnap suspect in police net in Abuja, Abdulrasheed Maigari, alleged that he was part of the security men who stole N310million from the house of Saraki in 2015.

However reacting to the claim on Sunday in a statement released by his chief press secretary, Sani Onogu, he described the allegation as “emanating from the infantile minds of unreasonable interlopers, hell bent on rubbing mud on the reputation of a distinguished Nigerian.”

Part of the statement read, “The attention of the Media Office of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has been drawn to a rehash of 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.

“This Office wants to reiterate that the Senate President 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.

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“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.

“The report remains a lie which must be disregarded by the public, and should it be recirculated tomorrow, it will still remain a lie.

“Besides, the content and intention of the fake story 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.”

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