As countdown to the 2023 general elections begins, the immediate past Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has returned to the Kwara political scene. Will he bounce back? TOPE SUNDAY asks in this report.
In 2019, the over 40 years of political dominance of the Saraki dynasty in Kwara state was upstaged by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in sweeping revolution, code named ‘O’ toge’.
After the demise of the Second Republic Senate Leader, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki, in 2012, the baton of leadership of the dynasty fell on his son, Dr Bukola Saraki.
The O’ toge factor
In an article titled: “The Rise and Fall of Saraki Dynasty, an Ilorin indigene, Mr Bayonle Abdulkadir, said the O’ toge mantra consumed Bukola Saraki and his inherited dynasty because of his many ‘sins’.
“The O’ toge slogan, translated to mean ‘enough is enough’ was a masterstroke that resonated among the electorate and it became very popular through various radio programmes. It was a ‘quit notice’ to the Saraki dynasty that has brought untold hardship on people of the state.
“For all those who have been following events in the state, the Saraki dynasty won elections when it enjoyed the ‘protection’ from the government at the centre. That was not so in 2015, but it rode on the popularity and wide acceptance of Muhammadu Buhari to triumph over the opposition.
“In 2019, alas Saraki had no federal might. The heavy security presence and clampdown on political thugs including the re-deployment of INEC officials and security agents he consistently bought over with his deep pocket, meant Saraki had no machinery in place to manipulate the outcome of the election.
“The April 5, 2018, Offa bank robbery incident is one sin many Kwarans will for many years hold against the present administration and Saraki. Not that anyone is accusing Governor Ahmed and Saraki as the perpetrators, they created the environment for such dastardly act…
“He also failed to create employment opportunities for the youths in the state. They became easy recruits for cultism and robbery. Saraki appeared to have incurred the wrath of the people of Offa when he boasted on radio last December that he donated N10million to the families of the victims without minding the unquantifiable value of the 33 lives lost to the unfortunate incident.
“The defeat of Saraki in his bid to return to the Senate as the sitting Senate President was excruciating, signalling the end of the dynasty. He lost the election with an unimaginable margin. “Flying the PDP flag, the seemingly invincible Saraki lost in all four local governments (Asa, Ilorin West, Ilorin South and Ilorin East) that make up Kwara Central, his senatorial district, scoring 68, 994 votes as against 123, 808 votes garnered by his main challenger, Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe.
“Prior to his defeat, the Senate President believed he had Kwara in his grip and that the state was impregnable for any challenger on the political turf. Saraki preferred to dominate the scene, deliberately avoided picking smart and popular candidates for elections. He held the fortunes of the state hostage for the last 16 years but Kwarans have had it all; the elastic limit of patience and suffering was overstretched here.
“Another undoing of Saraki was his preference for consistently appointing same set of self-centred individuals into government positions. Some of them have been in government even before Saraki became the governor with no traceable impact in government and their community.
“For Saraki, he mostly preferred this set of people based on their loyalty to the dynasty and not for their competence or performance. It was therefore not a surprise that virtually all Saraki’s foot soldiers were defeated at their polling units.
“For several years, many Kwarans especially the aged and unemployed youths were satisfied with receiving handouts from the dynasty in the name of empowerment. Not anymore as people of the state have now realized that for every plate of food or N1,000 worth Ankara they received from Saraki, he earns N100,000 from the state treasury.’’
Division in Kwara APC
However, less than two years after the APC government came to power in Kwara state, the party is now swimming in an internal crisis with its members reportedly divided between those bearing allegiance to Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq and Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
According to reports, the war of supremacy is well pronounced between Governor AbdulRazaq and a group led by Alhaji Mohammed and the Minister of State for Transport, Senator Gbemisola Saraki.
It was gathered that the ripples generated by the APC membership revalidation exercise in the state are yet to simmer as the two groups are said to be going for a broke over who controls the party’s structure.
Saraki resurfaces
While the bigwigs in the Kwara APC are at loggerheads over control of the party in the state, the two-time Governor of the state and President of the 8th Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, re-launched his political presence in the state.
On Saturday November 14, 2020, the former Senate President, visited Ilorin, Kwara’s capital city, for the first time since the 2019 political losses he and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), suffered in the hands of the APC.
His visit to the town was for him to be part of the memorial prayer for his late father, Dr. Olusola Saraki.
Again, on March 5, 2021, he made another visit to the town and was received by his followers, who according to the reports, said they have regretted voting for the APC in the state. Saraki was reported as having assured them of his resolve to be visiting the state regularly.
In what appears like his father’s winning tactic, Saraki has started visiting the homes of his father’s loyalists.
Blueprint Weekend gathered that the former Senate President during a recent visit to the state visited three prominent families in the ancient town of Ilorin to sympathise with them over the loss of their loved ones. The families he visited included the family of Alhaji Saadu Edaofosi Agara aka “Baba Tyre”, the family of late Alhaji Abdullahi Adeoye, an associate of late Olusola Saraki; and family of the late first Grand Khadi, Kwara State Shariah Court of Appeal, Justice Abdulkadir Orire.
With the ongoing internal wrangling in the Kwara APC and Saraki’s new tactics, will he bounce back in 2023? Only time will tell.
