Presidency Commiserates with Victims of Offa Bank Robbery

Police arrest seven suspects Saraki seeks improved security

The Presidency has sympathised with the victims of armed robbery attacks which were carried out on five banks in Offa, Kwara State last Thursday, during which 17 people were confirmed killed, including nine policemen. The official message was contained in a series of tweets on the Presidency Twitter handle @ NGRPresident yesterday, more than 48 hours after the incident, and two minutes after a tweet by a former new media aide of former president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Reno Omokri, who castigated the presidency for failing to express any condolence to the victims of the Offa robbery attacks. Omokri, in his first tweet on his Twitter handle @renoomokri at 14.36pm wrote “Policemen died during the daring Offa bank robbery. Not a word of condolence from President Buhari. He even travelled to Katsina. Imagine what this does to the morale of the Police? They are not paid well and their Commander-in-Chief does not give a damn when they are killed!” In an apparent reply to Omokri’s tweet, the presidency at 14.38pm tweeted “We sympathise with the families of victims, residents of Offa and the Government and people of Kwara State, on Thursday’s violent robbery at- tack. @PoliceNG have arrested a number of suspects & deployed extra personnel to the town, to assist in investigations and beef up security”. Omokri, in his response to the official tweet, said “Look at the time stamp on those tweets. Exactly two minutes after I criticized President Muhammadu Buhari for not condoling with the families of the 9 policemen killed during the Offa bank robbery, and instead jetting off to Katsina for the weekend, the President hurriedly issued a condolence. Obviously, Aso Rock monitors my tweets and are adjusting their behaviour accordingly. “When a gunman killed 9 people in Munich, Germany on July 22, 2016, President Buhari condoled with the German people the next day. When 9 policemen were killed by bank robbers in Offa, President Buhari jetted to his village. No condolence. No visit. It was as if nothing happened!” he added. Meanwhile, the Kwara state police command yesterday said it has arrested seven persons in connection with the armed robbery attacks in Offa. The state police Commissioner Ado Lawan disclosed this to reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital. He said one person was arrested at Igosun road while the six others were arrested at different locations in Offa.