Offa robbery: lai Mohammahed is author of doctored tape

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has debunked allegations by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammahed, that he, (Saraki), lied in his Christmas Day radio interview about donating N10 million to victims of the robbery which took place in Offa, Kwara State, last year.
Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said in a statement, yesterday, that if there is any doctored version of the said interview, Mohammed, who presented it, should be asked where he got it from.

Olaniyonu claimed the radio stations were simply instructed to do a repeat broadcast of the original interview, following requests by stakeholders, at various meetings held by the senate president around the state.
“Nobody produced another tape or instructed anybody to edit any part of the tape and nothing like that was done. That is why the same instruction was passed to all the stations, including Harmony FM, which is under the supervision of Mr. Lai Mohammed and the Sobi FM owned by an (APC) member. Sobi FM did not air the repeat broadcast because they said they had another programme scheduled for that Sunday morning.

“On my way to Pategi, in Kwara North senatorial district that Sunday morning, I listened to the repeat broadcast on the car stereo and the segment concerning the Offa case was clearly there. If there was any plan to doctor or edit the tape, would we do such a thing with Mr. Mohammed’s Harmony FM or propose that to Sobi FM whose position is well known to us? So, if Mohammed suddenly created and produced a recording of the interview different from what was repeated by the four radio stations on December 30, 2018, then, he should be asked how and where he got it,” Olaniyonu insisted.
He added that it was good that Mohammed admitted that Saraki donated N10 million to people in Offa but that the money was meant for traders who lost goods in the inferno which razed the market in the town and not for victims of the robbery incident.
“I remember, as a member of the senate president’s delegation to the Olofa of Offa’s palace, to commiserate with the people on the sad incident of the robbery, that, it was during that visit that Mrs. McCarthy, secretary of the Offa Development Union raised the issue of the earlier incident of the market fire and Dr. Saraki promised that N10 million would be made available the following day.

“The question people should ask the minister is: How much has he ever donated to provide succour for the people of Offa; for whatever purpose? He is only trying to draw political capital from the sad occurrences that happened to his own people. We are not unmindful of the fact that he continued to talk about the Offa incident as a way of playing cheap politics on the misfortune that befell some people. We urge him to move on to talking about what development projects he has brought to Offa; as a member of the Federal Executive Council representing Kwara State,” Olaniyonu said.
Mohammed had earlier alleged that Saraki claimed in his original new year broadcast that he had donated N10 million to victims of the Offa robbery and that when the senate president’s claim was debunked by the victims, he edited it and re-broadcast the edited version.