Ilorins are no more with Dr Bukola Saraki – Prof. Abdulraheem * The state of Kwara Politics Part 1 By Olajide Fashikun, Ayo Fasanmi, Adejoke Bamidele In a six-part serial, we shall be revealing too many things about the state of Kwara politics interspersed with detailed and earth-revealing interviews with the various actors. Enjoy the part 1 of the series that starts today. Is Saraki dynasty still alive? Has the late Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki, otherwise popularly known as ‘Olooye’s political dynasty ever had firm control of Kwara politics? Could it be true that the Kwara State governorship ticket remained in the pocket of the late political king maker of the state to be given to whomever he wants/likes as he, Olooye, had always claimed since his emergence as a key factor in democratic arithmetic of Kwara right from the time he became a prominent politician with the Nigeria’s Second Republic started in 1979 through the Third and the nascent, fledging Fourth Republics? These are the multi-trillion Naira questions begging for answers from Kwarans for the world to know before and even after his demise in November, 2012. Though he takes the credit of facilitating the emergence of five of the six civilian governors that had ever ruled the state including the fifth one which is his own son, the medical doctor turned banker and currently a Senator, Dr Bukola Saraki representing the Kwara Central Senatorial district in the National Assembly after serving out his two terms of eight years as the fifth civilian governor from 2003 to 2011, however the late political icon met the waterloo in his ambition to have his daughter, Senator Rukayat Gbemisola Saraki succeed her elder brother. Defeat of Olusola Saraki in 2011: Then, the late sage did not merge forces with any of the then existing major opposition parties on ground as he had always done in previous occasions but relied on his assumed popularity in the state and went solo with his floated Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), on the platform of which he fielded his daughter, Senator Gbemisola Saraki for the 2011 Governorship Election. Political pundits in the State saw his defeat as marking the beginning of his political demystification by his own son and the seeming void in his hitherto claim. But then, political observers were very much of the thought that it could be a family decoy arrangement to retain the Kwara State political destiny in his household since it was his son’s nominee in the person of the current State governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed who had been his son’s Exchequer for six years and Commissioner for Economic Planning for two years of the eight years of his administration that defeated him. Cross carpeting parties: Moreso, that on winning the election in 2011, Ahmed as Governor-elect had always dedicated his poll victory to the late Second Republic senate Leader, Dr Olusola Saraki. The questions are rather more pressing now than ever before bearing in mind that his scion, Senator Bukola Saraki, is one the arrow heads responsible for dumping the platform of PDP with which he rose to political stardom for the emerging mega opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in the count down to the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria. In the wake of things falling apart with the ruling PDP at the centre and Senator Bukola Saraki leading the PDP splinter group to deflect and merge forces with the major opposition party, the APC, in the state, at the National Assembly and across board in the country as his father, the late Senate Leader and the Waziri of Ilorin, Dr Olusola Saraki had always done during the Second to the Fourth Republics any time he disagreed with the national caucuses of the political parties controlling the centre, tongues are wagging whether history would repeat itself from January 2014 onward particularly as we approach 2015 general elections or records would be set straight this time around that the late Ilorin and later Kwara State folk hero is out of the stage and with his son, Senator Bukola Saraki, considered his political heir apparent. Abdulfatah Ahmed: Assumedly stepping into his father’s shoes as the political and party leader in the state as a result of his installing his finance aide for six years as governor, it was Governor Ahmed that set the ball rolling of the expected epic political battle while receiving the leadership of the APC who had visited him last November in Ilorin in the course of wooing the seven aggrieved PDP Governors to cross carpet to APC. Then, governor Ahmed pointedly declared to the visiting APC leaders made up of the Interim National Chairman of the Party, Chief Bisi Akande, the former Head of State and three–time Presidential candidate of the defunct All Peoples Party, (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC), the former Lagos state governor who is also a prominent APC chieftain, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the Interim National spokesman of the APC Alhaji Lai Mohammed among other APC notables that it was his mentor and the State political leader, Senator Bukola Saraki that could only negotiate Kwara political arrangement with any party and not him as the sitting Governor of the State, a position which eventually defines terms of the new PDP members’ defection to APC late last November. The governor’s position on Saraki’s control of Kwara political dynamics is constantly being corroborated at the slightest opportunity by the Saraki-led PDP splinter group that defected to APC. Yemi Afolayan: The former Secretary of the PDP who is now APC chieftain, Prince Yemi Afolayan early this week declared (in an exclusive interview with gongnews.net ) that the PDP is dead in Kwara State with the exit of Senator Bukola Saraki from the Party to APC with his supporters. Shuaib Oba AbdulRaheem: Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Professor Shuaib Oba AbdulRaheem had earlier said that the PDP remains solid in Kwara State despite the exit of Senator Bukola Saraki and his folks from PDP. Professor Oba had earlier maintained that the defection of Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed, Senator Bukola Saraki and others to APC would not affect PDP’s electoral chances. Senator S. S. Ajibola: At a get together organised by the Senator representing Kwara South, Senator Simeon Ajibola at his home town Isapa in Ekiti Local Government of Kwara State for the old PDP members and the people of the area and covered by gongnews.net Professor Oba Abdulraheem declared that with the exit of the Saraki group from the PDP, the party is now in position to be more formidable in the state. Ilorins are no more with Bukola Saraki: The former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, added that the PDP is now more united in Kwara as a body under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan. The Professor of English who hails from the same Ajikobi ward with the Sarakis in Ilorin maintained that the Ilorins have withdrawn their support hitherto given to the Sarakis with the exit of the elder late Saraki. Professor Oba was not alone in the school of political thought maintaining that the people of Ilorin Emirate have turned their back against Senator Bukola Saraki in particular within the Saraki political dynasty.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:58:57 +0000
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