The Court of Appeal has rejected applications seeking to suspend criminal proceedings in a fresh Offa robbery case involving former Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed.
The appellate court held that the pending appeals did not provide sufficient legal grounds to stop the trial before the Kwara State High Court.
The applications followed a fresh 20-count charge filed by the Kwara State Government against Saraki, Ahmed and two others over the deadly robbery in Offa on April 5, 2018. The defendants are accused of offences including criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide.
The court, however, granted the appellants’ request for an abridgment of time, giving them four days to file their reply briefs.
The prosecution opposed the bid to halt the trial, arguing that the Court of Appeal’s powers under Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act could not be used to suspend criminal proceedings where the law did not permit such an order.
Counsel for some of the respondents had supported the stay applications, contending that continuing the trial while the appeals were pending could undermine the appeals.
In its ruling, the appellate court refused the stay applications, finding that the applicants had not established a sufficient legal basis for stopping the criminal proceedings.
The decision allows the Kwara State High Court to continue hearing the case while the appeals proceed separately.
The trial is expected to resume on Thursday, November 5, 2026.
The latest proceedings are distinct from the earlier prosecution of five principal suspects over the 2018 Offa robbery, in which several people, including police officers, were killed. The five suspects were convicted in September 2024, and their convictions were later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Saraki, Ahmed and the other defendants in the fresh case remain subject to the allegations in the new charge.
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