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2019: The battle for Kwara rages
Saraki and Lai Mohammed battle for Kwara
By YUSUF MOHAMMED
The defection of Kwara strongman, Senator Bukola Saraki, and the state Governor, Abdulfatai Ahmed from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013, gave the party easy victory in the 2015 general elections.
Also, for the first time, a PDP presidential candidate lost to an opposition party’s candidate.
The victory of the APC in the presidential and governorship election in Kwara State came as no surprise as the political structure which belonged to the PDP changed hands. Kwara goes where Saraki goes.
In the governorship election, Ahmed of the APC polled 295,832 votes to defeat the runner-up, Senator Simeon Ajibola of the PDP who polled 115,220 votes.
It would be recalled that the primaries that produced Ajibola was marred by irregularities which made the other aspirants vow to work against the PDP.
Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who the PDP members rallied around defected to the APC a night to the Presidential election, thus further dampening the chances of the party ahead of the polls.
Saraki called a meeting of all political parties in Kwara a week before the postponement of the 2015 polls and urged them to put aside party interest and vote for the APC Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
He had said, “Fellow Kwarans, do you like the way the country is at the moment? Let us be honest and put selfish interests aside. Who do you think can rescue the country from its current predicament between Jonathan and Buhari. The answer is very clear.”
Buhari, as a result of Saraki’s support, got 302,146 votes to defeat his PDP rival, Goodluck Jonathan, who secured 132, 602 votes.
Fast forward to four years later, the man popularly called “Oloye” in Kwara State is no longer on Buhari’s side. He is now with Buhari’s main challenger in the presidential race, PDP’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
How did Saraki who was an integral part of Buhari’s historical victory in 2015 jumped ship again?
Well, it all started with his emergence as the Senate President. He was not his party’s favourite for this position. He emerged as opposed to Senator Ahmed Lawan who was the choice of the APC. Since then, it was one problem to another.
First was the Code of Conduct Tribunal trial. Saraki was slammed with a 13-count charge by the federal government, shortly after his emergence as Senate President. His alleged offence was false asset declaration. Many political analysts saw it as his party’s way of dealing with him for how he outsmarted them to become leader of the senate.
Fortunately for Mr. Saraki, he was cleared by the Code of Tribunal Conduct of the charges brought against him in September 2015.
Another problem came in the form of the Offa Bank robbery last year in Kwara. The police declared the Senate President a person of interest in the deadly robbery incident, the second-largest settlement in Kwara State.
According to the police, at least 17 persons, including nine police officers, were killed and five banks raided in the April 5 attack.
Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed of Kwara State said the police allegation that Saraki armed and funded suspects for political thuggery or for any other activity was “false and unfounded.”
Saraki no longer felt at home in the ruling party and later announced his defection. He told Nigerians via his Twitter handle that “I wish to inform Nigerians that after extensive consultations, I have decided to take my leave of the APC.”
Saraki’s move propelled that of the governor of Kwara who also dumped the APC. Another blow came to the ruling party when another loyalist of Saraki, Bolaji Abdullahi, also dumped the party. Abdullahi resigned from his position as the National Spokesman of the APC.
The State House of Assembly members and Local Government Chairmen in the state followed suit. That is how powerful Saraki is in the state.
Even the Emir of Ilorin Dr. Ibrahim Zulu Gambari has taken a partisan stance as a result of Saraki’s influence.
The Emir of Ilorin in a shocking but revealing engagement threw his weight behind the endorsement of the candidacy of Barr. Razak Atunwa, the PDP gubernatorial candidate of Kwara State at a Juma’at service held at Ilorin Central mosque late last year.
He said that the Buhari-led administration “lack the principle of royal dialogue and has brought the Emirate Council to a point where, if not for Saraki, we would have been in shame over the way investigation into the Jebba Road contract awarded to him was handled as it attacks my person and the institution I represent.”
The Emir also added, “I believe in our son” and wherever Saraki decides will be where Kwarans will go and if Buhari won in Kwara or gather even thirty percent of the total votes come 2019, he would do all it takes to vote against the second coming of Buhari and protect the Emirate as institution of authority and advocate of good governance.
Saraki is so influential that he has members of the APC who are loyal to him. Business Hallmark gathered that not all Saraki’s loyalists left the APC. Some of them stayed behind to destabilize the party.
The Kwara State chapter of the APC is currently divided and the Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, who is the leader of the party in the state, heaped the blame on Saraki. The other faction is being led by Ishola Balogun-Fulani.
According to Lai Mohammed, the Balogun-Fulani led faction is the mole of the “sinking opposition, PDP,” who had resorted to blackmail, thuggery and violence. He said because the opposition could not believe and tolerate the win of change in Kwara, they resorted to destruction of the APC campaign posters and billboards. Even if they destroy all our bill boards and posters, the message of our part is in the minds of the people.
“Why are they being offended by our campaign slogan “O to ge” meaning “enough is enough” in Kwara?” he said.
Speaking of “O to ge,” the APC candidate in Kwara Central Senatorial District, Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe said that “it is a movement that has made every member of the PDP, including Saraki jittery.”
According to him, the end of the Saraki political dynasty is here as he boasted of defeating Saraki for the seat he occupies at the National Assembly.
Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the APC governorship candidate knows that the only way to defeat the APC in the state is to get the masses behind him. He has called on the people of Kwara to “stand up against the Saraki dynasty.”
The quest by the APC to unseat the ruling PDP in the state has taken another dimension. Violence has become the order of the day in this battle for supremacy.
As usual, there have been accusations and counter accusations as regards to the violence unleashed last week in Surulere area of Ilorin, the state capital where many were injured and properties destroyed.
In a statement by Olu Onemola, Mr Saraki’s media aid, about 11 PDP supporters were injured in an attack by the APC thugs at the Senate President’s family residence. Apart from injuries, he alleged that about 50 vehicles were destroyed in the mayhem last week.
However, in a counter statement, the APC alleges that the PDP planned it to put the blame on the opposition.
Mr, RafiuAjakaye who is the media aide to the APC gubernatorial candidate, told the press that hoodlums of the PDP were behind the violence.
“They now go around the state to cause mayhem wearing APC vests. We have information that PDP thugs, true to our predictions since December 2018, have now massed-produced vests and other APC logos with which they are going around Kwara State to destroy things and attack innocent citizens. This is an old tactic for which the PDP and its patrons are known.
“This was the same tactic they deployed in 2003 and other election periods. These are panicky measures adopted by the drowning dynasty which has lost the battle of ideas,” the statement notes.
While Bukola Saraki has almost every politician from the ward level to up to the federal constituencies working for him, analysts are of the view that he would face a stiffer opposition this time around from the ordinary people.
Lawal Jimoh a social commentator based in Ilorin spoke with Business Hallmark in a telephone chat. He is of the view that “The elites may be with him but not all the masses are with him. There are many ordinary indigenes of Kwara who are tired of the Saraki dynasty and are ready to die to ensure that Saraki and his party lose Kwara State. We the people are saying O to ge (enough is enough).
Ayinla Ibrahim, a member of the PDP who also identifies as “Sarakite” (Saraki supporter) said, “It would be very difficult to bring down the Saraki dynasty. He is in full control of the state. People saying that he will lose this election are not being realistic.”