Nigerian police on Sunday summoned the head of the upper house of parliament for questioning after members of a criminal gang implicated him following a brutal bank robbery that left 33 people dead. Senate President Bukola Saraki, the third-most powerful politician in the country who has denied the allegation, served from 2003 to 2011 as state governor of Kwara, where the brazen daylight robberies took place in the central town of Offa on April 5. National police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood said 22 suspects have been arrested over the robbery of six Offa banks, including five ringleaders who alleged Sarakis involvement in the gang. "Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki is being invited by the Nigeria Police Force... to answer to the allegations leveled against him from the confessions of the five gang leaders," Moshood said in a statement. He said the gang leaders confessed to be working for Saraki as "political thugs under the name Youth Liberation Movement a.k.a. Good Boys." They also "admitted and confessed to have been sponsored with firearms, money and operational vehicles by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and the Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed." Moshood said a Lexus jeep purportedly owned by Saraki and used during the robberies had been traced to the government office in Ilorin, Kwaras state capital, and two of the governors personal aides had also been arrested. "Investigation is ongoing and effort is being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large. All suspects involved will be arraigned in court for prosecution on completion of investigation," he added. In a statement on Sunday, the Senate president promised to honor the police summons, but insisted he had no link with the robbers. He accused the nations number one police officer of planning to frame him and called on the public "to disregard this claim as a baseless allegation". "Let it be known that there is no way I could have been associated with armed robbery against my people," he said. Saraki said he was being framed because of his differences with the police boss over his shoddy handling of killings of innocent people across the country. Saraki however promised to honor the police invitation "as a person who has utmost respect for the rule of law and all constitutional institutions." Saraki is a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), the party of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.