Date: 2016-04-18

Dr. Bukola Saraki is an important, well-known political actor in contemporary Nigerian democratic political dispensation. A two-term governor of Kwara State, and now the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is certainly a very successful political leader in Nigeria. Scion of the now famous Saraki dynasty of Kwara, his good fortune derives essentially from the advantages of birth, good education and a cosmopolitan exposure all of which stood him in good stead to take advantage of the available opportunities in business and in politics.

But, as a human being, Saraki has his faults and flaws. Over-ambition, greed, egotism, self-centredness, self-delusions etc; these are some of his personality and character flaws generally affecting his politics, relationships and life. In Greek mythology, these flaws are often referred to as tragic flaws because they always mislead otherwise heroic figures (victims) down the path of ruination, as now seems the fate of the Senate President.

Therefore, in order to be able to adequately understand Saraki's tragic dilemma, his anti-climax if you like, you have to critically contextualize the issues in contention in the light of these factors. As we are all aware, since September last year, he has been facing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on charges of false assets declaration allegedly committed while he was governor of Kwara State (2003-2011). In spite of the government anti-corruption position on the issue, the Senate President has maintained that the action is politically motivated, and that he is a victim of persecution and witch-hunt. His supporters and sympathizers also naturally share the same sentiment, and have gone further to point accusing fingers in the direction of the powers-that-be. But, the really interesting questions are: can we blame the gods for Saraki's current political adversities? Or is he to blame for what some regard as his fool-hardiness, his utter lack of circumspection in his political conduct, decision & action. There is no doubt in my mind that the ongoing drama at the CCT has a political prelude. Therefore, Saraki's plaintive crises and lamentations about a perceived persecution and witch- hunt agenda of his traducers (which by the way underscore his depth of anguish, frustration and regret) contain some grain of truth.

However, in my own opinion, with due respect, Saraki should hold himself responsible for his own trouble. Over-ambition, greed, megalomania and indeed overweening arrogance, as stated earlier on, may have played a bigger role in the ongoing crucifixion of the Senate President than he and his army of supporters & sympathizers may be willing to admit. We all know what transpired in the course of the election that eventually got him into trouble. The facts are already there in the public domain. The anti-party intrigues, bribery and inducements, Saraki's perfidious deals with the PDP that produced Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President etc.

But, it wasn't so much that he won the Senate Presidency that is the problem as his continued intransigence and recalcitrance even when the Party had accepted the situation and was now ready for peace and reconciliation with its defiant, rebellious member. Although he might not realize this important fact at the time, buoyed by an intoxicating feeling of triumphalism, by persistently spurning all overtures and entreaties at reconciliation, he had become a nuisance and a dangerous enemy of cohesion and stability of the party and its government who must be got rid of as a matter of utmost priority.

The decision (and action) of the government is vindicated on the self-preservation, survivalist imperatives; that the party and the government have a clear duty to protect and defend themselves from a wild and destructive rampage of a few but powerful traders and political adventurers in their midst working at cross-purposes with the general good and well-being of the society.

Fortunately there is an uncanny resonance and congruity between the trial and the avowed commitment of the Buhari administration to the fight against corruption. In many respects, the trial looks quite credible. The validity of the charges has been confirmed by the courts, as are the jurisdiction and membership composition of the Tribunal. The accused himself has not helped matters; he approached the case much with the trepidation and apprehension and anxiety of the guilty rather than with the kind of calm, self-confidence and self-assurance observable in the behaviour of somebody wrongly accused but who is eager to prove his/her innocence. In attempts to subvert the process and kill the case, he kept legitimizing the trial paradoxically. It will be interesting to see how it goes, but it is already a bad situation for the Senate President.

Different interpretations have been given to the events, but I personally would like to view the unfolding historic drama as a manifestation of Karma, since there is nobody who can completely escape the consequences of evil-doing.

For the eight unbroken years that he was the governor of Kwara State, as can be seen from the recent startling disclosures at the trial, Bukola Saraki allegedly wantonly violated his oath of office and betrayed the sacred trust of all Kwarans by engaging in large-scale official corruption and mindless looting of the State's resources. If information from the anti-graft agencies is anything to go by, his is definitely the most corrupt, kleptocratic and sadistic government ever in the history of Kwara, a situation that has exposed over two million people of Kwara to mass poverty and deprivation of all kinds!

So also questionably fraudulent were his activities and transactions in the banks with insinuations and innuendoes pin-pointing him as a major contributor to the collapse of the defunct Societie Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) and Intercontinental Bank Plc, all with terrible consequences for the depositors who lost their deposits and in many cases lost their livelihoods and their lives. As a measure of his transgressions and incorrigibility, his father Late Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki in his dying days, had to inflict terrible curses upon him over a political disagreement that eventually led to the emergence of Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed as his successor governor of Kwara State in 2011. Many in Kwara believe that the Senate President's current travails are a fulfillment of those curses. The clarion call to all Kwarans at this hour is to continue to work and pray for the success of the Buhari administration in its arduous tasks of rebuilding and repositioning of our dear country by all manner of bold politico-economic strategies including the destruction of all anti-democratic oppressive forces who have, over the years, kept Kwara in its present state of backwardness.

Saka Salawu writes from Ilorin