FEATURED: Between Saraki And His Unintelligent Hirelings

By Abdullah Abdulganiy

I have come across an article credited to a certain Abdulqadir Abdulganiyu on the pages of The Nation newspaper May 27. Titled “Who is afraid of Saraki?”, I do not strongly believe Abdulganiyu could have possibly authored it. Abdul Abdul, as he's popularly known, is a character I'm familiar with his writing style. He writes far below the standard the article represents. For the avoidance of doubt, a press release with the title, “Abdulrahman's Govt's False and Diversionary Claims” came out yesterday from the Saraki camp, that's typical Abdul Abdul's writing style: incoherent and shabbily written.

I suggest that a senior media person within the ranks of the Saraki dynasty must have scribbled the “Who is afraid of Saraki?” write-up. That the charlatan was not bold enough to own up to his own handiwork, and instead was hiding under a glove speaks volumes about a lack of confidence in his own defense. In any case, the write-up was, needless to say, an empty rhetoric and bland attempt at whitewashing.

The hireling was supposedly reacting to an opinion editorial I authored about Saraki's vain labour in reconciling various interests within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his role as Chairman, National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee, but ended up shooting himself in the leg by veering off the subject of discussion and throwing up irrelevant issues.

The simple question the writer failed to answer is if Dr. Bukola Saraki was not pouring water into the basket considering that the PDP had lost many of its heavyweights and is poised to lose more since the constitution of the so called Reconciliation Committee. It is simply unintelligent of the author to have written off the defection of two sitting Governors, describing them as “men”. A politician that's worth the name knows what it costs to lose such forces, especially to a ruling party and at a time the PDP has lost national foothold. It is my sincere opinion that “Abdulganiyu” was not presenting the position of Dr. Saraki in his shameless outing.

I had a good laugh when the author called Saraki a “strategic genius”. That's an expensive joke carried too far. Pray, a strategic genius that couldn't save his dynasty from crumbling in the last general election? The so called strategic genius lost pitiably to Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe in the last general election, even as the then Senate President. For the record, the result was 123,808 to 68,994. It's also ludicrous that a strategic genius could not avert the various defections that hit his party under his watch as the chief reconciler. So much for a strategic genius!

The writer lost it completely when he made allusions to Kwara State. The bulk of Kwarans, save a tiny minority who still depend on the crumbs thrown at them by the Saraki dynasty, do not want to hear anything Saraki again in their political choices. The man messed Kwara up for a good 16 years in connivance with his altar egos. The ‘O to ge’ Kwara people said was not a mere sloganeering; it represents decades of frustrations and pent-up anger. Is it not surprising to the character who wrote the witless rejoinder that despite the internal wranglings in Kwara APC, no party chieftain has seen Saraki's PDP as a place to seek refuge? They know it's never an option. I need the so called Abdulganiyu to reflect on this. How many heavyweights in Kwara APC have defected to PDP despite the raging misunderstanding?

Again, that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has no significant achievement is a lie from the pit of hell. Saraki's hireling will just exhume memories of his paymaster's failure and maladministration with this claim. To be clear, after 16 years of the Saraki dynasty, no waterwork was functioning in the whole of Kwara. The state was in the blacklist of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). A number of local and international development partners cut off every deal with Kwara State owing to failures. Our health sector was in total shambles. The Ilorin General Hospital could not take care of extreme health related cases due to a lack of Intensive Care Unit. That's a hospital in the heart of the state capital. We have backlogs of unpaid salaries, allowances, pensions and gratuities. 

All the above ugly stories have changed. The narrative is no longer the same. These are verifiable facts. Since the coming of Governor AbdulRazaq, there's no single local government that has not felt his impact. He's developing the state capital along with other regions. Civil servants get their benefits as and when due; no more “geri gedi” system. For the first time in recent history of Kwara State, a recruitment process into the teaching community was not based on who you know but what you know and how far you can prove your mettle. Our basic schools and health care centers are getting fixed. A shocker here: with the 16 years of the Saraki dynasty, the AbdulRazaq administration did not inherit a single ventilator or tractor. Those equipment are now on ground. So, one wonders if Abdulganiyu is not in touch with realities or is being wilfully blind.

I had thought that Saraki and his rottweiler would have taken my piece of advice in good faith and internalize it. It appears they are struggling for relevance. Common sense says you do not wake a man pretending to be asleep. 2023 is just a call away; it will be a good time for Saraki and his vuvuzelas to clear whatever remains of their doubts that the Saraki dynasty has been cast into the dustbin of history. May God spare our lives.

Abdulganiy writes from Ilorin, Kwara State. Email: olamilekanhalarho@gmail.com.