Is this the End of Saraki Dynasty in Kwara?

Fri, Mar 1, 2019 | By publisher


Featured, Politics

Electorate in Kwara State uncharacteristically reject Bukola Saraki, the Senate president, in his bid to return to the Senate thereby suggesting that the political empire which Olusola Saraki, his late father built, is now decimated

By Anayo Ezugwu

IF anybody had predicted that Bukola Saraki, the Senate president, would not be among victors of 2019 elections in the build-up to the exercise, the person could have been probably be branded as a prophet of doom. But the outcome of the election appears to have vindicated the proponent of an imminent collapse of his political empire.

Saraki did not just lose his seat in the senate, but also lost the control of the state politically. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, his party, lost all the seats in the National Assembly to the All Progressives Congress, APC, including the presidential election. The defeat of the Senate president marks the end of a political era in the state and might possibly push him into political oblivion in the country.

Until now, Saraki seemed to have a knack for taking on political battles and winning most of them. He even fought the late Olusola Saraki, his father, and won. He fought Gbemisola Saraki, his sister and won. He fought the ruling APC and won. He fought the Presidency and won. He also sidestepped impeachment plots and emerged unscathed.

He is like a cat with nine lives. He lives a life of political brinkmanship. He loves the game and the game loves him. But the just concluded elections showed that Saraki could also surfer defeats.

Before the elections, there were signs that Saraki was losing his control of the state. After the APC won the by-election of the Isin/Irepodun/Ekiti/Oke-Ero federal constituency in the state in November 2018, it became more evident that he was no longer in control of the state.

In any case, the defeat of the Senate president has been attributed to political forces within and outside the state. It is also believed that the following factors made him to lose his grip on the state.

 ‘O to Ge’ Movement

For some years now, Kwara residents have been under the leadership of the Saraki family, a culture many refer to as the ‘Saraki dynasty’. Olusola, his late father, was known for installing governors in the state. He established the dynasty in 1964 when he meticulously warmed himself into the heart of Kwarans and earned himself the sobriquet, ‘Oloye.’

For almost five decades, he combed the political field and endeared the people to him due to his robust and participatory political sagacity. Oloye was a political enigma and he left a big shoe, which his son thought he could fill and continue from where his father had stopped. The dynasty has installed six governors since 1979, hundreds of lawmakers at the state and national levels, and chairmen of sixteen local governments.

In 2003, his son took over from Mohammed Lawal as governor of the state, an office he held for two terms. From there, he proceeded to the Senate from where he is said to have been calling the shots.

But as time went by, the people were said to have been “fed up” of the Saraki’s family influence and gradually, ‘O to ge!’ a popular movement began. Loosely translated as  ‘enough is enough’, the movement was spearheaded by key political figures in Kwara including Abdulrahman AbdulRazak, APC governorship candidate in the state, with the help of prominent figures such as Lai Mohammed, the minister of Information and Culture.

Mohammed had lamented about the “Saraki dynasty.” The minister once said: “The main issues here have to do with how our state has been governed in the past 50 years, 40 of which have been dominated by a single family. What has happened to the commonwealth, which has been cornered by a single dynasty at the expense of the people?”

Buhari Factor

Another key factor that led to the ‘downfall’ of Saraki is the popularity of President Muhammadu Buhari. The president, it was gathered, is even more popular than Saraki in most parts of the state. Interestingly, the results of the presidential election figures showed that Buhari scored 308,984, to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, in the state despite Saraki being his (Abubakar) campaign director-general.

Offa Robbery

Although Offa is not part of his senatorial district, the robbery incident that rocked the town did a lot of damage to Saraki politically. On April 5, 2018, armed robbers attacked banks in Offa, Kwara State, killing 33 people, including pregnant women and 12 police officers. It later emerged that some of the suspects had links to Saraki and the Kwara State government. This created a major public image disaster for Saraki.

The tragedy shook Offa to his very roots and apparently tarnished the image of Saraki in the state, and this might have contributed in no little to cutting down his influence and hurting his political fortune.

While addressing a press conference in Lagos earlier this year, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, the senator-elect, had accused the Saraki family of not sharing in the “common heritage” of the people of the state. He promised to restore the state’s “lost values”.

“In the past 16 years, our society has been in the grip of people who do not share our common values and heritage. They are dealers whose concerns are at variance with the people’s aspirations. They are leaders with (an) inordinate appetite for wealth acquisition. They are political voyagers and power merchants. They don’t share our Islamic values and culture of leadership,” he said.

Despite the aforementioned factors against Saraki, his defeat was celebrated across the state with Mohammed, saying the defeat was a freedom for Kwara from a choking and pauperising political hegemony of a self-imposed dynasty.  He stressed that never again would the people of Kwara be treated like slaves in their own land. “Enough is Enough – O To Ge!,” he said.

Mohammed advised that with the unprecedented victory the state should declare February 23, of every year as the Day of Liberation for Kwara State. “I want to ask the incoming Governor of our state to, immediately he is sworn in on 29 May 2019, to declare Feb. 23rd of every year as the Day of Liberation for Kwara State.”

On his part, Isa Aremu, the Labour Party governorship candidate in the state, said it was a joy to see a new dawn in the state. Aremu, who regretted that Kwara was ranked as 28 on the list of states by Gross Domestic Product, GDP, behind states like Imo, Edo, Oyo and Osun, adding that it was a tragedy that out of 10 Kwarans, seven are wallowing in poverty and penury due to bad leadership and undeserved political hegemony.

Likewise, Abu Ibrahim, the senator, representing Katsina South Senatorial District attributed Saraki’s defeat to selfishness. He said the Senate president’s defeat was a clear indication that the people had rejected him due to his craves to satisfy self above people’s interest.

According to him, the people have become wiser that is why they decided to vote him out. “I said we were going to retire Saraki and we have done it. We carried out enquiries at the grassroots and then continued to pray that he should lose.

“I want to congratulate the people of Kwara for demystifying Saraki. Saraki is very selfish. It is always Saraki first before others. He only cares about himself. The people only showed that they have become wiser,” he said.

On complaints by Saraki that there were irregularities in the election that led to his defeat, the lawmaker said “those were only the consolation of a defeated man.”

According to Ibrahim, Saraki’s defeat only shows he has lost grip of the people. “This shows that Saraki no longer has strength. If he feels there were manipulations, it clearly shows that he was always manipulating election results but now that he is weak he can longer manipulate. Wherever he went he was called ole (thief), even on social media.”

In the face of defeat, Saraki has been magnanimous enough to congratulate those that won during the elections in the state, wishing them the best of luck.

Will Saraki fight back to regain his leadership in the state or will he surrender to the will of the people? Only time will tell.

– Mar. 1, 2019 @ 14:05 GMT |

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