*Why He May Ruin His Political Life
The politics of Kwara State had been synonymous with the name of the Sarakis. For many years, the late Dr Olusola Saraki, fondly called Baba Oloye held sway in the middle belt state and had colossal power to the extent that his words were law as far as politics was concerned in the state then. His candidates usually won elections from governorship, senatorial to House of Representatives and even the local governments.
He used his influence to even install his son, Dr Bukola Saraki as Governor of the state in 2003, while his daughter, Gbemisola Saraki was also made senator of the Federal Republic. Probably his ‘undoing’ was his son, Bukola who allegedly used his office to amass power and checkmated the influence of his father in the state.
It would be recalled that Bukola forced his father, Olusola to leave the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to float another party, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, when he opposed his father’s wish to field his sister, Gbemisola as the Governorship candidate of the PDP in the 2011 elections. Bukola’s candidate, Abdulafatah Ahmed eventually won, thus heralding the transfer of power from father to son.
But Bukola is currently facing serious challenges that might reduce his political grip on the state. The medical-doctor-turned politician, sources revealed pushed his luck too far as he toyed with the idea of contesting for the presidency of the nation to the consternation of the presidency and inner caucus of the PDP, which had been preparing to field President Goodluck Jonathan for the coveted office for a second term in 2015.
Our sources revealed that Bukola Saraki had used his office as governor and godfather to the incumbent governor to corner some funds belonging to the state government, but that the matter was played down. But it seems Senator Bukola Saraki is now swimming in trouble waters as he was recently invited for questioning over fraud allegations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Saraki, alongside others, was allegedly receiving N100 million monthly as an illegal pension from the current government of Kwara State. He was also said to have diverted the money meant for the payment of allowances and salaries of civil servants as well as lecturers and other workers of the Kwara State Polytechnic in his days as governor.
Moreso, he was also allegedly quizzed by the commission over his involvement in other fraud-related matters during his eight-year tenure and when he was the executive director of the defunct Societe Generale Bank Nigeria Limited, SGBN.
According to a close associate of the Sarakis, the level of atrocities he allegedly perpetrated is mind-boggling.
“Look at the Shonga scam. It is so messy such that the Zimbabwean farmers are threatening to go back. For your information, the farms are owned by Bukola and the white farmers.
“The first amount they borrowed when they first came was N850 million; the money will now be paid back by the Kwara State Government because the state government handled the whole process in its name. Now, they are talking about going to Bank of Agriculture to look for money to start up the farmers again. Or is it the short flyover bridge at the post office, which he said he constructed at the cost of N2 billion, is it the former Herald Newspaper office he demolished and built an international diagnostic centre that he said belongs to him. Or are we talking about his house located at 28, Lake Chad Crescent, Maitama, Abuja and the one he said the state government must build for him in Ilorin. Shortly before he left office, the House of Assembly passed a Bill that former governors should be entitled to some gratuities and pensions, but Shaba Lafiaji, also a former governor is not entitled to this privilege,” a source revealed.
The former governor, who is now representing Kwara Central in the Senate, and who glamourised the office of the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, during his tenure as chairman of the forum for two terms, sources revealed last week is not in the good books of the presidency, and might face the music in the coming weeks.
Our reliable source revealed that Saraki interferes with the job of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State and has reportedly been making secret moves to stop the Governor from contesting for a second term in office under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015.
Senator Saraki is said to be shopping for a candidate from the mainstream Ilorin, the capital of the state, as Governorship candidate of the PDP in 2015 since Ahmed is from Share in Ifelodun Local Government Area, which is considered to be in the minority in the state.
“Bukola Saraki does everything in secret and he does not even confide in his close associates. Will you not be surprised to hear that he kept the secret of his election as the then Chairman of NGF from his father, Dr Olusola Saraki until the late Kwara State political strongman met him at the airport, when he was leading some governors to a meeting. Also he did not disclose to his associates that he wanted to contest for the post of the nation’s president as the candidate of the north in the primaries of the 2011 election, which he contested along with Gen Ibrahim Babangida (Rtd) and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, which Atiku eventually won. It is only sycophants that benefit from him and he has now started using the current division in NGF to oil his ambition to contest for the Presidency in 2015,” said a source.
The camp of President Goodluck Jonathan is said to have started making moves to frustrate Saraki and his supporters in the state, which was why Saraki’s case with the EFCC was renewed few days back.
Sources revealed that plans have now been concluded to empower one of the former aides of Bukola Saraki as the nation’s Minister of Works, when the cabinet is re-shuffled in few weeks’ time in a bid to hijack the control of the state from the Saraki Dynasty.
Bukola was accused of assuming that he can just have a smooth sail and become the king maker in the state, “but he made a mistake by picking on somebody like Professor Abu, we call him Oba Abu; Saraki nominated Oba Abu when he was governor to become the executive chairman of federal character commission.
“Why I am saying he made a mistake is that Oba Abu is known to have massively invested in the youths of Kwara State. Since his days as a lecturer in BUK, he has been massively investing in the people of Kwara. He became a professor in 1995, so you can imagine. So all those he assisted in getting admission are now big boys in their own right. He took that culture to Ilorin when he became VC assisting both students and workers. When he got to Federal Character Commission, he ensured that people from Ilorin especially, got jobs. He has been doing that even to our own detriment.
“When Oba Abu’s first tenure as chairman of the Federal Character Commission elapsed some months ago, Bukola, because of their normal style of not wanting anybody to contest his authority, nominated somebody else in the person of Senator Mohammed Ahmed from Barutin Local Government. But Mohammed Ahmed was not interested in the job because of his closeness to Oba Abu. He went to him to inform of what Bukola did, urging him to do something about it because he was not interested.
“Oba Abu went to Senator Pius Anyim, who assured him not to worry; you should understand that Bukola has fallen out of favour with PDP and the tenure was renewed without Bukola’s input,” said a reliable source.
The source added that before the tenure renewal, Bukola caused Senator Shaba Lafiaji to address the press in Abuja that they do not want Oba Abu any longer, but that Oba Abu did not say a word. ‘Because of that, people like Iyiola Oyedepo who has always been against the Saraki hegemony took it up from there and also petitioned the EFCC again about Senator Bukola Saraki with facts and figures,’ he added.
“We learnt that since the demise of Bukola’s father, Olusola Saraki, the people of Ilorin have been vehemently speaking out against Bukola and even rising up to confront him in public.
A clear case, we gathered, was what happened at the Pakata Area of Ilorin during the empowerment of the state’s Attorney General, where he gave out some support materials such as grinding machines and motorcycles.
According to our sources, Senator Bukola was present and was shell-shocked, when a small boy got up in the guise of praising Bukola, but instead completely upbraided him and his camp, warning that nothing must happen to Oba Abu.
“Immediately after this, tempers rose and there was commotion as people started throwing chairs at Bukola. He was ferried into his vehicle but some people sustained injuries. If what happened at Pakata baffled the Senator, what happened at his constituency office the same day rattled him. Our source revealed that Bukola was supposed to commission the narrow building he built, but what he met on ground scared him off the place, the people had risen against him and were ready to mob him,” a source offered.
Watch out for more soon.
First Weekly Magazine.
