One can hardly discuss Kwara politics today without making reference to the Sarakis, particularly the late elder statesman and second republic Senate leader, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki, who died two years ago.
Oloye, as he was fondly called, built the Kwara school of politics which many of today’s key players attended at one time or the other. Whether they internalised the acquired knowledge or not, however, is another matter.
So, to say that majority of the main actors in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have had brief and deep romance with Sarakis political dynasty to cut their own teeth politically is, therefore, stating the obvious.
The opposition PDP in Kwara has never been so resolute to wrestle power from the Saraki political dynasty than now.
The dynasty is presently led by Senator Bukola Saraki, the first born of the late strongman of Kwara politics, the late Olusola Saraki.
Interestingly, the capacity of Senator Bukola Saraki, currently the Chairman, Committee on Environment and Ecology in the Senate, is not in doubt as he successfully overthrew his father even when he was alive by installing Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed against the Oloye’s desire for Senator Gbemisola Saraki, his younger sister.
Today, there is new twist in the political developments in Kwara as Gbemisola has pitched his tent with the opposition PDP, while Bukola remains in control of the government and the structure of the ruling party in the state.
Sunday Vanguard checks revealed that this development made it easy for Bukola to move the government and party to the APC when the leadership crisis of the PDP under the chairmanship of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur reached the peak.
The fall out of that exit is what the opposition PDP is banking on to defeat the ruling government in Kwara in the 2015 general elections.
Some politicians, who had worked with Bukola for eight years as Governor of Kwara, and had one problem or the other over the way political appointments and elective offices were shared by him in the present dispensation of Governor Ahmed, saw an opportunity to vent their anger against him in the opposition PDP.
Alhaji Ahmed Yinka Aluko, who emerged as the running mate of Senator Suleiman Simeon Ajibola, the gubernatorial candidate of PDP, was the Special Assistant to Bukola Saraki on Security Matters when he was the governor for eight years.
Aluko earlier emerged as the flag bearer of the PDP for Kwara Central, the same senatorial district with Bukola.
So the exit of his boss from the PDP was seen as an advantage to achieve his own political ambition. He is claiming that all the strategies Bukola used to stay on politically came from him and that he is ready to use them against him in the forthcoming elections.
Similarly, Ajibola, the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in the state, who is in the Senate for the third term courtesy of the Saraki dynasty, publicly fell out with the family shortly after the death of the strongman of Kwara politics two years ago.
Same with many politicians who had deep relationships with Bukola such as Engineer Jani Ibrahim, Engineer Sunday Babalola, Alhaji Isa Bio Ibrahim, Senator Makanjuola Ajadi, Professor Shuaib Oba Abdulraheem, and Arc Kale Belogre.
But, perhaps, because of the different backgrounds they came from, it took too long a time for the combination of these human forces to realize the need for unity against a common enemy in the person of Bukola.
The in fighting over who to be accepted as nominee for the ministerial slot from the state took six clear months before Hajia Bola Shagaya, widely believed to have a strong contact in the Presidency, allegedly nominated Dr Suleiman Abubakar single handedly around October, 2014.
The vacancy was created shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan came for what was described as the mother of all rallies in Ilorin, the state capital in March, 2014.
The then Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who was expected to take a stand, backed down because of his loyalty to Bukola and so sacrificed that office.
Also,the emergence of Ajibola as the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP took not a few by surprise because he was largely seen to be ridiculously low in the rank of political profile vis-a-vis his alleged poor attitude to the people of his constituency when one compares his achievements to his being in the Senate for three times non-stop.
He is also seen in many quarters to be a bench warmer in the Senate having not be seen to have significantly contributed to any serious national issues talk less of sponsoring any bill in the three terms but merely enjoying the privilege of the political consideration for him by the Sarakis irrespective of his performance and peoples perspective about him.
But while unveiling his running mate at a press conference in Ilorin, last weekend, during his historic home coming after his emergence as the gubernatorial candidate of PDP, Ajibola hit back at his critics, dismissing insinuations against him and saying he had never lost any election since his advent into politics and so the forthcoming election will not be an exception.
The candidate vowed that his party men had put their crisis behind them and resolved to unseat the ruling APC in Kwara in the 2015 election.
He addressed the press conference in the company of the state PDP chairman, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, and three of the former gubernatorial aspirants of the party: Arc Kale Belgore, Deacon John Dara and Abdulraheem.
“As we all know, a bird can never fly with one wing. In this voyage, therefore, there is the need for running mate. After having considered the opinion of our party leaders and members at local, state and national levels, I hereby present to you my running mate in the person of Alhaji Ahmed Yinka Aluko”, Ajibola said.
The PDP gubernatorial candidate posited that the ruling APC which was declaring the next election as a walk over for it because of his emergence was actually afraid of him; so it needed to pretend to the public.
The state Chairman o f the PDP, Oyedepo, in his remark, assured that no member of the party will leave for APC, adding that the emergence of Ajibola has made the party stronger than before.
Unlike APC, which imposed the incumbent, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, on the party, he said Ajibola emerged from a rigorous process desirable for the much needed change in Kwara.
Abdulraheem who spoke on behalf of other former gubernatorial aspirants pledged their loyalty and support for the party to win the 2015 elections in Kwara.
Earlier, the ruling APC had warned the PDP in the state not to allow internal lingering crisis snowball to political unrest in Kwara.
In a statement in Ilorin by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, the party said: “Senator Simeon Ajibola and other 12 aspirants who lost out at the primaries do not constitute a threat to the re-election bid of our governorship candidate, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed”.
Having suffered defeat in the PDP gubernatorial primary by coming third, Gbemisola is quietly out of the political calculations of the state in the forthcoming election.
But Bukola, who is the main focus in the 2015 political battle with his deep understanding of Kwara politics, is not leaving anything to chances if the political changes he has made within the his political structure are to go by.
He is playing a political chess game with the strategic movement of his aides and supporters to various offices based on their strengths and weaknesses in a bid to achieve landslide victory in the 2015 elections.
But with some of his former strategists also in the opposition PDP battle ready to outwit him in the political game, how far can Bukola go this time is just a matter of less than two months.
Credit: Vanguard
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