2019: Kwara braces for landmark general elections as Saraki fights for political life
Kola
Shittu did not match the picture the reporter expected to see. It was
the second day of the new year and the Kwara State chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was calm and all smiles as he ushered
party officials into and out of his office in his expansive home in the
old GRA, Ilorin.
Could Mr Shittu be unaware of the higher-than-usual
excitement in the state over the coming general elections, driven by the
resurgence of the opposition in the state? At street junctions and on
almost every wall in Ilorin, even around Mr Shittu’s house, bright
billboards and posters screamed the message: Oto Ge! meaning “Enough is
Enough” in Yoruba.
It is the battle cry of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) and it is echoing even in the most unexpected places in
Ilorin and other parts of Kwara. It refers to the long dominance of the
politics of the 51-year-old state by the Saraki family.
“Place a
table by the roadside anywhere in Ilorin, shout Oto Ge! and see the
reaction of people,” Iyiola Oyedepo told PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr Oyedepo
was the state chairman of the PDP until last July when he fled to the
APC to avoid sharing the same camp with Bukola Saraki, the Senate
president.
Mr Saraki, the current “leader” of the Saraki political
family, had that month made a grand return to the PDP from the APC,
followed by the state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and all the elected
office holders from the state.
When Mr Saraki moved from the PDP in a
similar fashion in 2014, he flipped the state to the APC, which went on
to win every election there in 2015. But Mr Oyedepo said the tide has
turned.
“The people are resolute that enough is enough and you can feel it in the air everywhere in Kwara,” he said.
Ilorin on knife’s edge
Two recent events in the state give an indication of a changing political canvass.
Usually
on Christmas Day, the predominantly Muslim indigenes gathered under
their umbrella, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union at the
palace of their revered emir. At the gathering, they would raise fund
for the development of the emirate and review public issues that affect
the people within and outside Kwara. It was a key event in the
socio-political calendar of the people and everyone turned up gaily
dressed. In 2017, the Senate President as the chief donor announced a
donation of N10 million.
At the event, however, last December,
the unusual happened. As Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the APC governorship
candidate, was called to the podium, a band of rednecks sprang to their
feet chanting “Sai Bukky,” the slogan of supporters of the Senate
President in the state. They were immediately countered with chants of
“Oto Ge!”
The ensuing commotion overwhelmed the organisers who called
an end to the event after the emir, Sulu-Gambari, hurried out of the
scene in embarrassment. The next day, the president of the IEDPU
announced his resignation.
The PDP supporters accused the Minister of
Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, of orchestrating the tumult at
the event, alleging it was the reason he had the NTA broadcast the event
live.
Mr Mohammed, an indigene of Oro about 100 kilometres away
in the southern senatorial district of the state, denied the allegation.
He said he had no foreknowledge of the event and could not have
arranged its coverage by national television. Still, it was significant
that a group would stand toe to toe against Mr Saraki’s supporters at
such a grand event in the very heart of Ilorin, his hometown.
Political Fortress
The
Sarakis control the politics of Kwara from their political fortress in
Ilorin and buttress their hold by using it for negotiation at the
federal level. This means that they not only control the resources of
the state, but also those accruing from Abuja, including political and
public service appointments.
The emirate, covering the entirety of
Kwara Central Senatorial District and a small part of Kwara North, has
about 55 per cent of the voting population of the state.
Because the
Sarakis have always enjoyed solid support in Ilorin, other parts of the
state consider it politically suicidal to stand against them in the
Nigerian winner takes all politics where 50.01 percent is equal to 100
percent. Thus, any support the Sarakis draw from outside their home
fortress has been based on the pragmatism of the giver. A substantial
erosion of the support in Ilorin is thus nunc dimitis to the hegemony.
But
in the last eight years, Mr Saraki has faced a rising opposition in
Ilorin, indicated especially by the desertion of key allies. Some of
these include Gani Cook-Olododo, Yinka Aluko and Moshood Mustapha who
served him either as chief of staff, commissioner or special adviser
when he was governor and were commanders of the foot soldiers at
elections.
Abdulraheem Oba, a professor and former vice chancellor of
the University of Ilorin, is also an influential indigene of Ilorin who
has deserted the Saraki camp. Other young Turks never beholden to the
Sarakis are also emerging and marking out turfs across the emirate. The
fact is that Mr Saraki has not managed to win the adulation his father
enjoyed among the Ilorin people.
In other parts of Kwara too, many
old allies have jumped ship. Many of these are in Kwara South, but there
are prominent cases like Ibrahim Bio, a former member of the House of
Representatives, speaker of the State House of Assembly and minister;
and Ahmed Ahmed, a former senator from Kwara North.
Source:- Premiumtimesng
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