Former Governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki yesterday refused to honour the invitation of the Special Fraud Unit of the Nigerian Police over the controversial N7.5bn loan write-off granted to some of his companies by the former management of Intercontinental Bank Plc. Saraki was expected to report yesterday, but sources within the force said he had sent in a letter asking for more time to enable him attend the funeral of a close relative.

The Public Relations Officer of the anti-fraud unit, Ngozi Ifintume told National Mirror yesterday that the former governor did not turn up for questioning, despite the fact that her office sent a letter of invitation to the Senate Chairman of Environment Committee.

"All I can tell you right now is that Senator Saraki did not report in our office today (yesterday) despite the fact that we have sent a letter of invitation to him. We are however still waiting for him to report to us," she said.

She added that there was no specific date set for Saraki to report.

"We actually did not state any specific date in the letter of invitation. It was an open invitation for him," she added.

Saraki, through his media office had said over the weekend that he believe he is being set up for a fall by some people because he first blew the lid on the oil subsidy scam, which is currently rocking the country's oil industry.

The former governor expressed surprise that the case is being re-opened because according to him, he had already gone through series of investigations.

"We are once again surprised it is resurfacing," his media office said, adding that "the attempt to link this baseless petition to Senator Saraki is purely a blackmail and character assassination."