What is the position of the Ilorin Emirate on the recent sack of the Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi by the President?

It’s very unfortunate, very irrational, and very unreasonable. Here is a person who I can grade as the most efficient minister. I don’t know why we introduced politics into everything here. The action is unfortunate and condemnable; it shows that perhaps the government doesn’t want the best. They want sycophants, people who cannot perform. There is no good reason for sacking him, and it’s bad. My heart bleeds.

Is that your personal position or that of the Ilorin Emirate?

That is the position of the Ilorin Emirate Magajis/Alanaguas Forum. We are the first to declare for Bukola Saraki, we are a force to reckon with. It’s unfortunate that the President sacked Abdullahi because of politics; you don’t need to be a politician before the President can appoint you as a minister.

The feeling is that he was sacked because of Jonathan’s 2015 ambition, do you see any correlation with that?

I don’t speculate. The sack is bad, it’s very unfortunate. I don’t know whether it has to do with 2015 or not.

Who knows who will live up to 2015 among us? So, it’s jungle politics. I have never met the minister, I have nothing with him, but he is very efficient, I have never been to his house, I don’t know where he lives, but he is a true son of Ilorin Emirate and he had been a very good ambassador, there is no justification for his sack.

What is your advice for President Jonathan in this kind of situation?

I don’t need to advise him; he is a matured person. Why should I advise him. does the President seek for advice?

Nigerians won’t suffer for his wrong decision or actions. It’s just nine months, for politics to start and we are going to open a can of worms.

Like here in Kwara now, do you think the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will win here? The All Progressives Congress (APC) will win.

The type of people we are seeing in Kwara politics now are billboard politicians and they make noise. Nobody is going to remove the billboards; we are going to decide at the appropriate time because if PDP wins here that means we are going back to Mohammed Lawal era.

You know, that was a dark era in the history of politics here. It was a period of sleepless nights, a period of insecurity, a period when our tradition both Islam and traditional institution were bastardised.

You know Lawal tried effortlessly to depose the Emir by putting his own king. So, we are now trying to go back there through the PDP. I am saying this because Lawal’s son is there, 50 per cent of the people there are supporters of Lawal.

But the daughter of the late Olusola Saraki, Gbemisola is also with the PDP. How do we reconcile this?

You are talking of the daughter of the late Waziri; my advice for her is to quit that party, she doesn’t fit there, they want to use her to destroy the dynasty. What can they give her?

The best they can give her is a minister; she will spend nine months and she is going to leave that place. PDP cannot win in Kwara. The daughter of Waziri, who is Gbemisola, you know, she is my daughter, but she has gone to the wrong place. She didn’t consult people like us.

I laboured for her, there is nowhere I did not follow her to campaign in 2011. Did she seek for advice? So, I think the best thing for Gbemi is to quit PDP and come to her brother, settle the differences if there is any because I don’t think there is any difference to be settled.

Abraham Lincoln tried in the US politics more than eight times, at the end of the day he became the President of America. If you don’t win one election, it doesn’t mean you should despise everybody, even Awolowo, tried, severally to be president.

My message to Gbemi is that she should not allow anybody to destroy Saraki dynasty because if anybody tries to destroy Saraki dynasty, I will fight that person. I don’t know of any politician in Kwara that is like the late Waziri. He was the one who took care of us for over 40 years.

You criticise him but you don’t do like him. Tell me one politician in Kwara who has ever built six kilometres of road? It was Saraki that started poverty alleviation; he had respect for constituted authorities, for traditional rulers, for widows, for women folk.

So, my advice for Gbemisola is for her to quit the PDP quickly, go back to her brother and settle whatever is believed to be the problem. You don’t allow somebody to use you.

If they succeed in destroying the Saraki dynasty, they will now face her. But they cannot even destroy the Saraki dynasty; they are only making noise. They are billboard politicians.

In 2011, you were behind Gbemisola. How much effort have you made in reconciling her with Bukola Saraki?

I am angry with her because she didn’t contact me. She ought to have done that. What position does she want? There is no place I didn’t follow her to during the campaigns. I was with her father throughout.

She didn’t seek for my advice. What is the offence of Bukola to her? He has not committed any offence. She has never contacted me. How can I make effort when somebody doesn’t seek my opinion? But my own words for her is to leave that place, she is not in the right place.

All the people she is now associating herself with are the enemies of her father. So, it’s just like a lion opening her mouth, and you are just there, by the time the lion closes the mouth you are gone.