Date: 2014-04-07

The political tempo is gradually rising as the 2015 general elections draw near with the two dominant political parties, the PDP and APC jostling for power. In the bid to control the narrative, both parties have begun issuing a rash of press releases, with the apparent objective of demonizing the other party and painting themselves as saints.

In Kwara State, the PDP narrative is quite clear. It is about freedom. This was their mantra at the recently organized rally by the party, which was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan. At the meeting in Ilorin’s Metro Square, speaker after speaker spoke about the need for “freedom” from the Saraki hegemony.

While this sentiment would not in any way be new to anyone who has followed Kwara politics over the years, this new rallying cry for freedom has a tinge of irony and novelty to it. Among the horde proclaiming ‘freedom’ that day was a Saraki, Gbemisola, herself a former Senator and sister of Bukola Saraki. Even the President alluded to it in his speech when he said he was for a new order and would not tele-guide any governor elected on his party’s ticket, a direct reference to what is generally perceived in the relationship between Senator Bukola Saraki and incumbent Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed.

These are indeed interesting times. Apart from the fact that the political map is a bit confusing with previous PDP states now controlled by the APC; former party men who used to strategize on how to deal with people in the other political parties have suddenly become adversaries, mouthing ‘change or whatnot’ even though a few months ago, the very idea of  “change” was unappealing to them.

Kwara is a peculiar place indeed. It was a PDP state until a couple of months ago. Then majority of the PDP members moved over to the APC and the APC members went the opposite direction. PDP thus became APC and APC became PDP.  Of course, when the ruling party was PDP, their slogan could not have been freedom. But that’s the slogan of the PDP today, and this makes it necessary to ask, freedom from what, really?

I believe the reasoning behind their notion of freedom would supposedly be to expand the political space and free Kwara politics from the clutches of Senator Bukola Saraki, who is the most important political player from the state today. The PDP is however dead wrong on both points. The fact is, no politician in Kwara history, probably in Nigeria’s too, has freed up the political space better than Saraki since 2003 when he became Governor and a leading politician from the state. Yes, it is true that his late father, Oloye, the erstwhile strongman of the state politics was instrumental in his emergence as governor.  But since that time, the politics of the state has changed a lot, and the space has become broadened mainly because of the liberal politics of Saraki, so much so that today those who control the levers of power in Kwara are the omo mekunus (children of the poor).

In 2003, when Saraki became Governor, his father, Oloye controlled the political machinery that threw him up. Consequently, the party picked those who were appointed into crucial positions. They were selected from a very small group of Oloye’s acolytes, loyal party men who would give a leg and an arm for the godfather. Strong in politics and in delivering the votes; but probably not so strong in delivering the democratic goods. But even at that time, Bukola Saraki knew that to overcome the challenges of the state he required the best Kwara hands wherever they may reside. So while he deferred to his (god)father and the political machinery that produced him as Governor in the appointment of commissioners, he quietly identified several competent Kwarans, all technocrats, who had not played any role in the mainstream politics of the state before that time.

That was when people like Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, Bolaji Abdullahi, Zakari Mohammed, Ali Ahmad, Abulrazak Atunwa and many others were invited by Saraki to be part of his government, mostly as special assistants, except for Fatah and Atunwa, who were appointed Commissioners. It was a risky move at that time as the reward system was deeply entrenched in the politics of the state, and the new entrants did not play any major role in the election that brought Bukola Saraki into power. What they offered was their expertise in several fields.

Gov Adulfatah Ahmed was the regional manager of GTB in Kano and was a reputable public finance expert.  Abdullahi was an award-winning journalist in Lagos, working with Thisday. Atunwa was a practicing lawyer in the UK. Ali Ahmad was a university teacher at the Bayero University in Kano, while Zakari Mohammed was an ace broadcaster with Radio Kwara. One thing synonymous about these fellows was that they didn’t have a recognizable surname at that time. They were not the children of the ‘timbers and calibers’ of Kwara State; but children of the talakawas, the poor and underprivileged, who were offered opportunity to contribute to the development of the state, powered only by their capabilities and the height of their dreams rather than their surnames.

After the grooming of this new political class between 2003 and 2007, they became the new political elite from 2007 onwards as they were promoted commissioners and given other high-ranking jobs during Bukola Saraki’s second term. I believe the numerous accomplishments attributed to the Saraki administration in Kwara was as a result of his decision to expand the political space by bringing in many competent Kwarans wherever they may be to serve in his government.

Bukola Saraki proved loyal to his conviction by ensuring that one of these new entrants, Abdulfatah emerged Governor in 2011. That was against the wishes of the advocates of the old order who wanted him to hand over to his sister. The easier thing for Bukola Saraki would have been to do their bidding and pass on the baton to Gbemi, his sister. But he fought this bravely and following the narrow road ensured that Abdulfatah Ahmed, the son of a policeman from Share in Ifelodun Local Government in Kwara South became governor. And that for me is freedom.  It is freedom when the son of a tailor, Bolaji Abdullahi was nominated by Bukola Saraki and became Nigeria’s best Minister of Sports ever. Freedom is when Kwarans, irrespective of their surnames, know that the political space is big enough to accommodate them and liberal enough to allow them to be the best they can be no matter the humbleness of their background.  That’s freedom.

This freedom wasn’t cheap. It was bought with a costly price: Bukola Saraki’s precious relationship with his father and the continuous scorn of his extended family. The old established families have not forgiven him too, for opening up the political space and making the son of a tailor Minister and the son of a junior police officer, Governor. But Saraki knew that it is a price he has to pay for a greater Kwara and he has done so with level-headedness.

For the PDP, it seems that what the party wants is the old order masked as ‘freedom.’ The party appears to be scornful of the new entrants into the Kwara political space and wants to revert to the bad old days when a few moneyed families called the shots. Take a look at those leading this campaign for ‘freedom’. Gbemi, she is a Saraki, who would have been the primary beneficiary of Oloye’s ill-advised plan to foist his daughter on the people; Bilikisu Gambari, was the CPC Senatorial candidate for Ilorin, and sister of the current Emir; Dele Belgore is from the old Belgore family with a former Justice of the Supreme Court as patriarch; Abdularazak Lawal, is the son of the late governor of Kwara, Mohammed Lawal. Or, take Hajiya Bola Shagaya, who is woman Friday to almost every first lady in Nigeria. She is no longer content with making money, she also wants political power. It is no longer secret that her agenda is to send her son, Sherif, who is married to the daughter of the former PDP Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, to the House of Representatives as a starting point. Or AbdulRahman Razaq, who like Dele Belgore also tried to be Governor in 2011. He is the son of AGF Abdulrazaq who is the first SAN in Northern Nigeria. There a few others from the exclusive club of rich and ‘been their families’ now united, not only by class envy, but also by their common disdain for the emerging political elite populated by people with background not so dissimilar from that of President Jonathan himself.

There’s nothing wrong with members of this exclusive group aspiring to political offices, but it would be most dubious to attempt to pass this obvious elite conspiracy as freedom, hoping that would confuse the people. They are wrong. The people of Kwara State are more politically sophisticated than they think. And if they have any respect for the people, they will stop this empty sloganeering about freedom.

Abdulraman Salam writes from Lagos