Thieves Stole My N12m Cash, Not N300m – Saraki

Bukola-SarakiThe Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has denied reports that N300 million cash was stolen from his country home in Ilorin, Kwara State.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu on Sunday, Mr. Saraki said burglars broke into an administrative quarters in his home two weeks ago and carted away N12 million.
He, however, said the incident had been reported to the police.
An online news medium yesterday reported that aides of the former Kwara State Governor were responsible for the theft of the money, which it claimed were ferried to Saraki’s house in hard currency by the state government.
While exonerating aides of the Senate president from the criminal act, Mr. Olaniyonu said the perpetrators were yet to be identified even as he stressed that the money was not public funds.
The media aide was however, silent on the reason behind Mr. Saraki’s decision to keep such large amount of cash in his house at a time he is facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja for alleged false asset declaration.
Read Mr. Olaniyonu’s full statement on the incident below:
SaharaReporters’ Story Full of Falsehood and Exaggeration
The report yesterday by SaharaReporters about a burglary in the Ilorin home of Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki contained series of falsehood and at best an exaggeration of an incident which happened two weeks ago in which N12 million was stolen by some unknown persons inside the Administrative Office located next door to the house.
In a statement, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity stated that the unknown persons broke into the safe in the Administrative Office and stole the N12 million. The incident had since been reported to the police and the Kwara State Police command are investigating the matter with a view to nail the culprits.
“There is therefore no truth in the claim by SaharaReporters that the money ran into hundreds of millions, that it was in foreign currency or that the incident happened in Dr. Saraki’s room. The amount was simply in Naira. Also, the money has nothing to do with Kwara State Government.
“For the umpteenth time, we need to reiterate the fact that SaharaReporters’ fixation that any money spent by Saraki or that is in his possession is from Kwara State Government is unfounded, unwarranted, lacks any basis and irresponsible.
We wonder whether Saraki was such a poor man before 2003 when he was elected Governor that he could no longer own any money without SaharaReporters attributing the source to the State Government.
“In its usual unethical and disgraceful haste to assassinate the Character of the Senate President, SaharaReporters ignored the simple professional practice for it to contact the Police to find out the facts of the incident. It merely created its own usually fictional story and published it. This is an online publication that cares not about its credibility or the journalism credo that facts are sacred and opinion is free.
“We call on all members of the public to ignore all the claims in the story. Dr. Saraki will allow the police to do their work and unravel the person or persons behind this theft in the Administrative Office”, he stated.