The Saraki dynasty no doubt existed and ruled the North-central state of Kwara for many decades through the late Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki’s linage.
The dynasty before now faced a lot of challenges but was able to surmount them and always bounced back without any major defeat.
The late Saraki in 2003 picked his biological son to contest against late Muhammed Lawal, who was at loggerheads with ‘Baba Oloye’ over his style of leadership, which made the latter part ways with him.
The decision of Saraki to bring his son was taken after his followers advised him to nominate his own for the position of governor.
No doubt, Dr. Bukola Saraki got people’s sympathy and support because of his father on one hand and his youthfulness on the other, being under 40 years of age at the time of his election.
The dynasty later suffered an internal crisis when the junior Saraki rounded off his tenure as governor and ‘Baba Oloye’ came up with the idea of his daughter, Gbemisola Saraki, succeeding her brother as governor of the state.
Information has it that Bukola Saraki kicked against it because he wanted the post to be rotated among the three senatorial districts of the state and since he was completing his tenure as a Kwara Central candidate, he supported another candidate from Kwara South which produced Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed as the governor to succeed him while Baba moved to another political party with Gbemi.
The issue was later resolved since it was more of a family affair, but Bukola Saraki already took charge of the leadership of the political structure.
From 2011, things started getting out of hand in the area of development of the state, payment of salaries, which threatened the dynasty and resulted in attacks on some political leaders during a Muslim festival at the Eid praying ground, with people hurling insults on Saraki.
The local government election that took place on November 2017 was another pointer to the threat on the Saraki dynasty, which their supporters and even the political leaders didn’t believe could happen.
Those in the opposition claimed to have won most of the local governments but the results were upturned to favour Saraki’s party since they were still in power while permutations continued within and outside the state on how to oust Saraki from political affairs of the state.
The dynasty also suffered huge membership loss when Saraki decamped to the PDP from APC a few months to the 2019 elections. Saraki’s exit from the APC gave different interest groups in Kwara to come together as a force with the assistance of the federal might to lay off the dynasty’s hand in the affairs of the over 50-year-old state.
Kwarans showed their anger against the Saraki dynasty with their votes in the 2019 general elections.
Saraki’s party, the PDP, suffered defeat in the presidential and state assembly elections while the final blow was dealt on the dynasty by voting out Saraki in the NASS election while his candidate for the governorship election also lost.
But despite the losses, some supporters and those who still believe in the Saraki system of leadership have started regrouping and working to ensure that the dynasty not only sustains but bounces back to power in the state and nation.
One of such supporters who spoke to Daily Trust Saturday is the PDP chairman in Ilorin West LGA, Hon. Aminullah Babaopota. He said the Saraki dynasty is still very intact and the supporters are not relenting.
“As you can see I have the chairman of Ilorin East, Ilorin South and Asa Local Government at the mandate constituency office of Dr Bukola Saraki. We are working day and night to sustain the dynasty. We meet at every ward as supporters of the dynasty. What happened during the 2019 election is a test and that had come and gone. The structure is still intact and we have been meeting with elders of the party to resolve some issues.
“We have different groups working to ensure the return of our leader because the dynasty has now gained more sympathy than ever before. The people of the state have started seeing the difference between Saraki’s leadership style and what is happening in the state now. For instance, during the last Muslim festival if we are no longer enjoying people’s support we won’t distribute cows and rams, but we distributed. They came from Saraki and people collected them.
“People still gather at the Ileloke residence of Saraki. We have the women’s groups that usually gather there every Thursday and Friday for prayers and it is still going on. Nothing has changed about the support the dynasty enjoys from the people. We also meet at wards. Stakeholders’ meetings are held there too,” Babaopota said.
Since the last elections, Bukola Saraki was said to have kept off Ilorin for no known reason, but his supporters denied that, saying he had been in Ilorin twice after the election to meet his supporters and even invited some of them to Lagos recently for a meeting where they told him to relax for some time. But they said he has been very eager to come home, but the supporters want him to stay and relax for now.
It was discovered that the dynasty has started taking a review of what happened, the challenges and where they failed and is consulting with some of the people who are aggrieved because of one issue or the other, and making them understand the problem.
Some of them believe that Kwarans are not angry with Saraki but are angry with some individuals who are close to him because some people lament that they are not getting anything but are getting something. The Director-General, ABS Mandate Constituency Office, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, in his reaction, said despite the fact the Dr. Bukola Saraki is not in power now, he has been up to his responsibilities.
“People still come to this constituency office for empowerment and other assistance and they are being attended to. He did not neglect his people, even though he is no longer in government, he has continued to extend gestures to his people. The dynasty is as strong as it was before. Without mincing words, no big deal in losing an election. In any competition, there is always a winner and a loser, come 2023, Saraki dynasty will reclaim the mandate,” Abdullahi said.
For Gbemisola Saraki, many believe and support her style of leadership because of her closeness to her father.
But some political analysts in the state say Kwara’s problem is not about an individual, but about the Saraki dynasty, which had subjected the state to hardships with the godfatherism syndrome. The return of the dynasty might also be difficult with the support the APC-led administration is enjoying from the people of the state.
One issue that might, however, favours the dynasty is when the APC-led administration and the party are unable to resolve the internal crisis brewing over the management of the state.
A former speaker of the state House of Assembly during a discussion, said: “We have decided that there will be a peaceful transition, which is happening. We will not at all interfere with the government. It is not that the people voted for the people who won during the election. It is us that people voted out. They never care about who was on that ballot. It is the government that the people were tired of and booted out. We never had that feeling of disaffection or what we have done wrong. The people have ‘koboko’ (flogged) us. Now we are feeling the pains. We will correct ourselves and appeal to the people that we have changed for another comeback. The dynasty will bounce back.”
As it stands, the Saraki dynasty as the ‘Alpha and Omega’ of political happenings in Kwara may not be too visible, but, there are always Saraki’s hands in the affairs of the state.
