The way the general elections played out in Kwara State was an interesting one to many Nigerians, because the once impregnable empire of the Saraki dynasty appears to have come to an end. Assistant Editor SINA FADARE, who just returned from Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, reports
Perhaps if Senate President Bukola Saraki could listen to the lyrics of the song that the youths of Kwara State were singing around Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, after the announcement of the winner of the last governorship election, he would be humbled by the reasons why he lost grip with the once impregnable empire built by his father and the great Oloye, Dr. Olusola Saraki.
The youths, who were numbered in hundreds, trooped out immediately the Chief Returning Officer, Prof. Muhammad Sanusi Liman, declared Abdulraham Abdulrazaq of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the election.
The way they echoed the song round the town suggested that something monumental had taken place.‘Enu ni o ka alaseju a ti wi, a ti wi o, enu ni o ka alaseju, a ti wi‘ meaning he has been warned of the impending doom but he refused to accept.
With the political tsunami that swept all the available political posts, including the 24 seats in the Kwara State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it is obvious that a new political history will take effect from May 29, 2019.
For over four decades, the Saraki dynasty has been in charge of who gets what in the Kwara political space and anybody who did not key into the game of the late Oloye will definitely be on the wrong side of the fence in political patronage.
In his heydays, the words of Saraki senior were an authority and any politician who ignores it does so at his or her own peril. He was a political giant who derived his power from the people of the grassroots, who usually turned his house at the Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Ilorin to a Mecca of sorts.
In his life time, he became the only politician in the country who single-handedly installed his biological son as Governor. In addition, one of his daughters, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, was in the National Assembly for 12 years; eight years in the House of Representatives and four years as a senator representing Kwara State. This was a feat which no politician dead or alive has achieved in the country.
Before his demise, Saraki who was popularly called Oloye, by his teaming supporters single-handedly installed all the civilian governors of the state from Adamu Attah (1979 to 1983); Shaba Lafiagi (January 1992 to November 1993); Cornelius Adebayo (October 1983 to December 1983); Mohammed Lawal (May 1999 to May 2003) and his son, Bukola Saraki (May 2003 to May 2011).
At his exit, his son took over his father’s political machinery, which he leveraged on to curry juicy political appointments. He was governor for eight years. He also became a senator representing Kwara Central twice before he lost favour in the sight of the people in his third attempt during the last National Assembly elections, where he was defeated by Dr. Yahiya Oloriegbe.
He also had the privilege being a king maker. Apart from installing the current governor, Abdulfatai Ahmed, for two terms, he equally decided the fate of all the 24 members of the House of Assembly.
But, instead of being humble, pundits say the Senate President became arrogant and surrounded himself with only those who cannot tell him the bitter truth; a situation that made him to take wrong decisions that eventually nailed his political coffin.
Some of the political foot soldiers, who were loyal to Bukola’s father when he was alive, believed that the shoe which Oloye left behind was too big for him to carry. Therefore they were not surprised that the empire crashed on his head.
However, others were of the opinion that the Senate President was intoxicated with power and he leveraged on the poverty in the state to push his luck too far, thinking that money can do it all.
Unfortunately, by the time he learnt his lessons it was too late; the people’s determination was too strong to be substituted with naira notes.
The collective will of the people, as encapsulated in the revolutionary model of O to ge or ‘Enough is Enough’, did the magic. The people were united by the desire to reject the once powerful politician, irrespective of party affiliation.
Speaking to the Nation on the movement and how the dream was actualised, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, a politician, said the radio programme that eventually sent Saraki packing started in 2015 but gradually gained popularity among the people as the recent general elections drew nearer.
He said: “It was very consistent; it started as a weekly radio programme. During that time there was an increase in the radio outlet. It was of immense value to the O to ge movement.
”The O to ge movement was not about any political party, be it the PDP or the APC. You may not be a member of any party, but still be a patron of the O to ge movement.”
Oyedepo said he had been in the struggle for many years before the dream became a reality. He added: “I feel extremely happy; what we thought was impossible is now possible. When such happened, you feel elated, more so when you are part of such a movement.
“As a person, l started the struggle against the Saraki dynasty about 18 years ago. That was when there was a rift between former Governor Lawal and the Oloye himself. l had the option of going with him but l said no. I went with Lawal.
“When Lawal died, most of us who were with him went back to Saraki senior, but l did not. Thus, I was in the struggle for many years before it became a reality.”
Oyedepo said a lot of havoc has been done by the Saraki dynasty that will take many years to rebuild. His words: “We have lost a lot in Kwara. Let me confess to you, proper governance has been lacking in the last 16 years in Kwara State.
“We must wipe the slate and start all over again. There was no single achievement in any sector that you can point to, either in the area of agriculture, education, health or social welfare of the people.
“Instead, we have mass unemployment and no rural infrastructure. They just came to steal for 16 years. That is why you can see the total collapse of the entire system. That structure must be rebuilt from the beginning, as the new governor must be serious, because he has no other choice.”
The politician said the Senate President was too imperial and carried away with the toga of office to the extent that he lost touch with the people and he paid dearly for it.
He added: “He was a product of arrogance. That arrogance did not enable him to learn. Pride is his major problem, because it has closed his eye and ears to the voice of reasoning and good conscience.
“If he was not proud and arrogant he would not have fallen like this. He sees himself as the only one; the opinion of others did not matter to him. The moment he was not involved in anything such system must collapse.
“Even the governor that he installed was not in control. He did not allow the governor to stand on his feet. And, if you do not allow the governor to function, the commissioners are mere birds of passage, not to talk of Special Advisers (SA); they were all errand boys.
“For such a person he had shut himself from quality advice. He has no advisers; all his followers believe that he was a demi-god that must be worshipped. The outcome of that is what we saw when he was rejected by the people.”
A politician and legal practitioner, Kunle Suleiman, was philosophical in his response. He said there is a season for everything under the sun.
He said: “To Bukola, everything that has a beginning must surely have an end. The over 45 years of political domination of Kwarans has ended. He should go home and reflect on his past, if his past deeds will make him to have a sound sleep. The evil that men do lives after them. Most certainly, the evil he has done will live after him.”
Suleiman added: “I am happy and thank God that all this is happening in my life time. They have destroyed many things; they have stolen with impunity, but we are going to start all over again.
“Ours is not going to be lamenting what has not been done. We have our own programme. We are going to start to execute the programme that will touch the lives of the people of Kwara positively.
“Whatever he might have done has been left to the dust bin of history. We are looking forward and ready to execute our own programme for the benefit of the people. All those who had stolen our common patrimony will be made to cough it out.”
A member of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Wole Oke, was one of those who believed the people of the state have been short-changed during the era of the Saraki Empire. Therefore, he believes that there is a new dawn.
He said: “Victory can never be sweeter than what the APC in Kwara State has achieved in the just-concluded governorship and House of Assembly elections. It is a political revolution which has brought to an end 40 years of arrogant hegemonic dynastic rule with its concurrent subjugation of all other political and even traditional interests in the state.
“It is the end of 40 years in the wilderness for the youth in the Kwara State political arena and landscape. It is now an opportunity for the emergence of other hitherto suppressed political might and the development and growth of potential political giants in Kwara State.”
However, Prof. Hassan Saliu, an indigene of Ilorin and a political science lecturer at the University of Ilorin, equally saw the collapse of the empire from a similar perspective.
He said if one must pinpoint the root cause of the defeat it is insensitivity. He was waging too many wars, especially plotting his political ascendancy while he ignored the true feelings of Kwara people.
He said: “People have also talked about arrogance and poor perception of politics on his part. There are many causes. One undeniable lesson of his defeat is that whoever wants to lead the people must be humble and realise that politics cannot be played without a deep theoretical background. Money is not everything. Politics is more about service, not only about creating comfort zones.”
A former House of Representatives member from the state, Monshood Mustapha, said all the lost glory of the people will be restored, as soon as Abdulranham Abdulrazaq becomes the governor.
Mustapha, who pointed out that he had to pocket his political ambition as a governorship aspirant and team up with the APC candidate to have a formidable team that will uproot the age-long political slavery, said the new dawn will bring peace and prosperity.
Perhaps one day Kwarans will have a large heart to forgive the incalculable damage done to them by the Sarakis, as Oyinkansola Saraki wants the people to do.
Oyinkansola who appeared on TV programme said all efforts to let his brother be accountable to Kwarans failed because he refused to listen to genuine advice.
She said: “l am disappointed that Bukola did not do well when he was a governor in Kwara State, having studied in the United Kingdom. We talked to him, but he didn’t listen. Unfortunately, Kwarans have rejected him.
“Bukola and l studied in the UK. He knows all the good things in the UK and we felt he would replicate that in Kwara when he became the governor, but he failed. Even as Senate President, he has not carried the people along.”
Oyinkansola therefore begged the people of Kwara to forgive the Sarakis for the trauma they have passed through in the hands of the dynasty. She added: “I don’t want any curse on my children and will not let nemesis fall on me. My brother has not served the people of Kwara well.”