Former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Saturday in Abuja has been released.
Sources confirmed to Global Upfront Newspapers (GUN) on Saturday night that “yes, the Senate President has been released. He is no more in their custody. As I am talking to you, he is on his way back to his house in Abuja.”
Saraki, who was the Senate President between 2015 and 2019, spent not less than three years facing allegations of corruption and false declaration of assets. He was acquitted by the Supreme Court in June 2018.
Mr Wilson Uwujaren, the Spokesperson of the commission, had earler in the evening said that Dr Saraki was invited for questioning over allegations of corruption and money laundering.
Uwujaren said that the former Senate President, who was also a two-term Governor of Kwara State, was being interrogated over the allegations levelled against him.
Earlier, a senior EFCC official Saraki was not arrested by the anti-graft agency but was invited during the week to report at the EFCC headquarters in order to answer some questions.
The source explained that the former Senate President pleaded with the commission formally that he would honour the invitation on Saturday when he’s in nation’s capital, Abuja, for a wedding ceremony.
According to him, Saraki was to answer questions over alleged theft and laundering of public funds using a network of cronies and proxy companies.
Another official, who confirmed Saraki’s interaction with the operatives of the commission, said Saraki was not actually the target of the fresh probe but a former governor in Kwara State, Abdul-Fatah Ahmed who is his ally.
”No, the commission is not originally probing Saraki. We’re are investigating former Governor Ahmed and the investigation necessitates that we invite him (Saraki) in order to shed more lights on some issues,” the source said.
He added that Ahmed, while he was Governor and other cronies to Saraki ‘executed’ some contracts for him in Kwara State.