Senate President Bukola Saraki could be regarded as a man of destiny. He, today, presides over the senior chamber of the National Assembly where his late father, Dr, Abubakar Olusola Saraki, was once the Leader. The younger Saraki is obviously an ambitious man. This is no sin. As a matter of fact, anyone without ambition is a man without vision. He is doomed.
I have no problem with his ambition; what I quarrel with is his mission. He seems to be a man in a hurry and thus desperate to arrive at his destination without taking steps. Those who trod such a path in the past ended up ruining their career. They may record victory or even victories; they are pyrrhic. Such men are usually left bruised, dejected and frustrated at the end.
In the beginning, like the grass, they blossom. People wonder how they seemed to be making it despite the obstacles. But, in the end, they get so used to shortcuts that they permanently ignore the straight path whereas only the straight path could lead to peace and good success. The choice by the Senate President to ignore his party’s position, strike a deal with the opposition and damn the consequences is tantamount to subverting the logic of human existence if he were to succeed in the long run. It would mean treachery could sometimes triumph over faithfulness; and pride over humility.
It has often been said that there is no morality in politics and that only the tough survive. Or that politics is the art of the possible where, like the Hobbesian state of nature, the fittest survive.
But, those who trust in and believe in God know that whatever you do disregarding the good order is like a house built on sand. It does not even take a storm to pull it down. While the foul could perch on a thin rope for a short while, it must fly off in no time because for the period it enjoys the limelight, it is at a great cost. It is a painful experience.
It is doubtful if the banana peel at the entrance and along the corridor leading to the office of the number three citizen of Nigeria has been swept away. That seat has remained hot since Chief Evan(s) Enwerem took it at the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999. Enwerem, Wabara, Okadigbo, Anyim and Nnamani rotated the authority of the King of the Senate in the first eight years of this Republic. The man who had the guile, cunning and understanding to withstand the gale and walk the slippery corridor was David Mark. Before Mark mounted the saddle, he had watched and been part of the proceedings for two full terms. He took time to study the politics and dynamics of legislative business. He was also lucky to have been produced outside the Obasanjo regime. In any case, he survived. He belonged to the majority party and managed to give the impression that he was a loyal party man and one who would not betray the President, whatever might be his cause.
But, the setting is different now. The All Progressives Congress is now the leading party. It ought, by tradition, if not ordinance, to produce the leadership – President and Deputy President of the House. But, desperate to make the mark, Saraki repudiated tradition and convention. Like Afonja of Ilorin, he chose to strike a deal with the opposition, daring his party to do its worst. While the President meant well when he said he would not interfere in legislative affairs, Saraki seized on that to subvert logic and commonsense. The coup he plotted led him to the podium.
It is surprising that he has continued with the perfidy; choosing his own Senate Leader and other APC principal officers over and above the party choice conveyed to him in writing. Now, he believes he is sitting pretty. While a common ground was found in the House of Representatives where there was a similar (not exactly the same) crisis, Saraki, a former Kwara State governor and ex-chairman of the Governors’ Forum, has been intransigent. Now, the President has awakened to the reality. The party is affronted and yet Saraki believes he could contrive some funny Vote of Confidence to deceive Nigerians into accepting him as leader of the legislative arm of government. This is an error. First, the Senate Leader is supposed to bear some moral weight. He is expected to be respected whenever he speaks. This is not the case. Unless he makes up with the President who is seen as the nation’s Moral Ambassador and Mr. Integrity, whenever he kicks, he would be doing so against thorns. For now, President Buhari has not swung into using the weight of his office overtly or covertly against the unwanted Senate President. It is yet early days. The music would soon change and Mr. Saraki would find himself alone in the boat. Those who know him should advice the man to brace up for the storm on the high sea.
