UNTIL last week, the belief in many quarters in Kwara State
following the outcome of the last general elections was that the dynasty of Dr
Abubakar Olusola Saraki popularly known as “Oloye” has gone into oblivion. This
is on account of the loss suffered by all the candidates of the immediate past
Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, on the banner of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, as the All Progressives Congress, APC, recorded a clean sweep of
elective positions.
Some stakeholders in Kwara politics considered as absurd and
an insult to their collective sensibilities the the trend of one man, Dr
Olusola Saraki, single-handedly controlling and dispensing political fortunes
as he wished and willed.
As if that was not enough the political baton was transferred
to the khalifa in Saraki’s political dynasty, Dr Bukola Saraki, in 2003 and he
wielded power for about 16 years before the gang up of opposition members
politically disarmed him in the last general election.
Oloye, as was fondly called by his teaming admirers was a
political strategist. He was generous to a fault and considered as
a man who loved his community passionately.
Trouble in Saraki
dynasty
Trouble broke out in the Saraki political family in 2011 when
Dr Bukola Saraki, who was completing his second term as governor of Kwara state
refused to support his immediate younger sister, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, to
succeed him.
Vanguard gathered that while Dr Bukola Saraki was doing his
political permutations over his succession plan, he approached Gbemisola Saraki
to relinquish the Kwara Central senatorial slot to him after her first term in
the National Assembly while she would in return be supported to take over as
the next governor. Senator Gbemisola Saraki reportedly accepted the offer,
which would make her realise the tall dream of being the first elected female
governor in Nigeria.
However, in a dramatic twist shortly after, Dr Bukola Saraki
reportedly withdrew his support for Senator Gbemisola Saraki to become the next
governor after she relinquished the senatorial ticket to him.
The father who was part of the initial political arrangement
between the duo was bitter over the twist of events and he threw his political
support for Senator Gbemisola Saraki.
The political battle line was drawn. Dr Bukola Saraki propped
up his then Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed as his
governorship candidate with the argument that Kwara state is not the private
estate of the Saraki family.
The argument, sound as it looked, attracted political support
for him. His father and Senator Gbemisola Saraki left the government’s Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, for the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN.
As fate would have it, Dr Bukola Saraki’s candidates and
party won the election in a landslide and since then things fell apart and the
centre could no longer hold for the Sarakis.
And since then, Senator Gbemisola Saraki reportedly rebuffed
all entreaties by family, friends and associates to settle the difference
between them and elected to be in any major party opposed to Bukola’s party. In
2015, when Bukola moved to the APC with his supporters, Gbemisola defected to
the PDP.
Thus, while Bukola worked for General Muhammadu Buhari in the
2015 presidential poll on the platform of the APC, Gbemisola was for former
President Goodluck Jonathan on the card of the PDP.
Conversely, when Bukola returned to the PDP in 2019 and
worked for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Gbemisola sought refuge in the APC and worked
for Buhari and other APC candidates.
For her role in the political Tsunami that swept Bukola and
PDP out of power in Kwara, President Buhari has rewarded Gbemisola with
ministerial appointment at a time some political stakeholders thought Kwarans
are through with the Sarakis in the state.
Interestingly, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who is coming back
into mainstream politics in the state had been off the political stage for well
over a decade. The beautiful “Aunty Amope” as fondly called by her teaming
supporters took after her father in terms of generosity and is widely seen to
be caring, respectful and humble.
However, no sooner had the news of her ministerial
appointment filtered into Ilorin than some APC members kicked , though silently
that the state is done with the Sarakis.
Nevertheless, the State Chairman of the Party, Hon. Bashir
Omolaja Bolarinwa, in a press statement cautioned the members against
‘’needless protest’’ and to desist from any action that is capable of
undermining the leadership of the APC at any level.
He said the two ministerial slots given to Kwara were a rare
gesture that members of the party and the people of the state should rejoice
over. President Buhari also re-nominated immediate Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Ali Mohammed, who hails from the state.
Amid the silent opposition, the ministerial appointment of
Senator Gbemisola Saraki was hailed by a group, the Kwara New Era Movement
under the banner of the APC in the state. At a media briefing held at the
secretariat of the group along Alore, Ilorin, the state capital, its President,
Tajudeen Abojumeji and a stakeholder of the APC, Engr. Yusuf Obalowu, stated
that they had followed the negative criticism that trailed the nomination of
Gbemisola Saraki, which they described as unnecessary.