Saraki: Caught Between And Betwixt

Late Oloye Olusola Saraki’s grip on the politics of his state of origin was more like a stranglehold. It earned him the sobriquet of ‘Strongman of Kwara politics.’ No one amounted to anything without his say-so and no one not handpicked by him could occupy the Government House in Ilorin. When one of those he made a governor suddenly got too big for his breeches and challenged the Oloye to a wrestling match, the latter made two significant decisions.

The first was routine and predictable: the mutinous governor would be forced to imbibe the bitter truth that oga get master upending his ambition to secure a second term in office. But the second decision was more radical. Saraki announced that since ‘outsiders’ were proving to be very unfaithful and disloyal, he would henceforth start looking inwards for candidates to occupy the governor’s office whenever a vacancy occurred – and he was going to start with his first son, Olubukola.

Majority of Nigerians like me who were unfamiliar with the twists and turns of Kwara State politics reasoned that such a highly condescending succession plan would boomerang and blow up on Saraki’s face as the electorate would react negatively to being treated as if they have no mind or will of their own. But we were all proved very wrong as the younger Saraki went on to win the governorship election by a landslide! After such a command performance no one ever developed the liver to question the Oloye’s actions – until the same Bukola dared to!

Oloye had wanted his daughter, Gbemi, who had acquitted herself very well in the senate to succeed Bukola but the latter thought otherwise. He desired his father to commit seppuku – a form of Japanese ritual suicide that allowed a well-respected samurai to die with honour by disbowelling himself rather than suffer public shame. The senior Saraki was enraged and swore to show his rebellious son that he was still calling all the political shots in the state. He defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), registered a new political party and propped up Gbemi as the party’s governorship candidate.

It was the equivalent of the father versus son intercinine shootout that Nigerians had witnessed in the 60s between the legendary educationist Dr. Alvan Ikoku and his Soviet-trained son, Sam Goomsu. And just as the younger Ikoku defeated his highly illustrious father in the contest for a seat in the House of Representatives so did the junior Saraki unmask the father’s masquerade in the market-place. It is debatable whether the Oloye ever recovered from the political humiliation he suffered in the hands of his ambitious son before his demise.

The point being made is that high wire political intrigues are second nature to Bukola. As far as he is concerned, the end has always justified the means. Those hoping that Saraki would take a cue from the resolution of a similar crisis in the House of Representatives to do the needful would have till the cows come home. He doesn’t believe he has done anything untoward and our elders aver that it is very hard to wake someone who is pretending to be asleep.

Be that as it may, recent events involving the senate president clearly indicate that the full implications of his actions are now beginning to dawn on him. The invitation extended by the EFCC to his wife with respect to allegations of money laundering while her husband held sway as the state governor is just a case in point. Politically motivated or not, what is of paramount importance is that nothing untoward should be remotely linked to Saraki that is when the real makosa dance. Not even if all the members of the national assembly and those in Kwara State abandon their duty posts and embark on a jamboree to the office of the EFCC would make any difference.

And while we are discussing the subject, let me categorically declare that unless the senate president reins in Dino Melaye, the man would much sooner than later prove to be his undoing as he continues to needlessly create more enemies for him. The senator who has now transformed into a self-styled ‘private investigator’is yet to yet to decide whether he wants to act and talk like a distinuguished senator of the Federal republic of Nigeria or a firebrand activist of sorts.

Just recently Nigerians were treated to the silly spectacle of a vote of confidence being passed on the senate leadership. It is an open secret that only governments that face tough battles engage in such a ploy as a morale-booster. And to top it all, the senate president led a senate delegation to the North-East last Monday for what was described as “a one-day on-the-spot assessment of the security situation in borno State,” where he also reportedly made a cash donation of N10million in support of the upkeep of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

These shadow-chasing and photo-op events would get him nowhere. They say “Let us go” (party politics) is not a one man’s journey and that when a man is not satisfied with what he has, he ends up wanting what will kill him. Saraki must be mindful of the fact that it is only a fool that sits down and watches others plunder his father’s kolanut plantation and that because a man found himself in the middle of the sea should not make him call the crocodile his brother. Saraki is caught between and betwixt; between the devil and the deep blue sea.

All he needs to do for peace to reign again so he can sleep with both eyes closed is to replicate House Speaker Dogara’s reconciliatory manoeuvring in the upper chamber. But this would mean dumping his deputy from the opposition party – something very unlikely. What to do next? Saraki can continue to appeal to key traditional rulers as well as religious and political leaders to plead on his behalf with the presidency but Buhari is a party man to the core.

Let Saraki broaden the scope of his intra-party consultations with the aim of crystallizing a win-win soft landing otherwise he must not stop looking over his shoulders because some people you deceive or outmanoeuvre are ready to spend the rest of their lives and every kobo in their very deep pockets seeking revenge.

Credit: Daily Independent