The Kwara State Government has amended its 20-count criminal charge against former governors Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed over the 2018 Offa bank robbery case, dropping 18 of the original charges and introducing two new ones.
The amended charge sheet, marked KWS/114C/2026 and signed by the State Attorney General, Ibrahim Sulyman (SAN), reduces the charges against the former governors and two other defendants from 20 to four.
In the amended charges, counts one and two accuse Saraki, Ahmed, Yusuf Abdulwahab and Alabi Olalekan of “conspiring to belong to gang of thieves” and “belonging to gang of thieves.”
Counts three and four accuse the four defendants of concealment and disappearance of a “vehicle used for illegal purpose.”
With the amendment, the state government has dropped all charges relating to armed robbery against the former Senate President, Saraki, Ahmed and the two other defendants, who were aides to the immediate past governor.
A motion on notice seeking to amend the charges, dated November 6, 2026, was filed by the prosecution alongside a six-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Sulyman Mohammed-Jamiu, a litigation clerk in the office of the Kwara State Attorney General.
The development comes amid ongoing legal proceedings before the Kwara State High Court and the Court of Appeal.
At the last sitting of the State High Court on November 5, 2026, the presiding judge, Justice Osuolale Ajayi, reserved ruling on whether the court could proceed with the arraignment of the defendants despite a pending application for a stay of proceedings before the Court of Appeal.
Earlier, on November 3, 2026, the Court of Appeal advised Ahmed’s counsel, J. A. Mumini (SAN), to file a formal application seeking an order directing the parties at the trial court to maintain the status quo ante bellum, rather than relying on an oral submission.
The appellate court subsequently adjourned proceedings to November 12, 2026.
The case, which commenced at the trial court in April 2026, has yet to proceed to trial because of several preliminary legal issues that have also been taken before the appellate court.
Reacting to the amended charges, a member of the legal team representing Saraki and Ahmed described the prosecution’s continued efforts to bring the former governors before the court as “a mockery of the judicial process and an exercise in futility.”
The lawyer questioned the decision to replace the armed robbery-related charges with allegations of belonging to a gang of thieves.
According to the lawyer, “This is not just a disgrace to the institution of governorship of our dear state; it is also a drag on the name of our dear state in the mud.”
The lawyer further stated, “And all this struggle is just because the present government desperately wants to see the former governors in the dock. They moved from the case of armed robbery to joining a gang of thieves.”
The lawyer maintained that the amended charges would not succeed in court, insisting that the prosecution had merely replaced one set of allegations with another.
“The present charge sheet like the one they abandoned will record no success. It will fall like a pack of badly arranged cards. We will meet them in court,” the lawyer said.
The lawyer also urged the Attorney General to advise the state government against pursuing the prosecution, arguing that the amendment reflected difficulties with the original charges.
“They must have resorted to this new amendment to the charges after realising they will not be able to achieve their aims with the unwieldy list of charges earlier filed. The new charges will not turn out better,” the lawyer added.
Attempts to obtain reactions from the State Attorney General and other government lawyers were unsuccessful.
However, sources close to the state government attributed the amendment to advice from the Attorney General and other members of the prosecution team that the original charges would not achieve the government’s intended outcome.
Post Title: “Kwara Govt Drops 18 Charges Against Saraki, Ahmed” — Files Two New Charges Over 2018 Offa Bank Robbery Case By Naijaonpoint.