Date: 2014-06-26

It has become imperative to formally react to the unguarded statements of a former governor of Kwara state, Sen. Bukola Saraki, against the person and office of the Nigerian President. It is unfortunate that, it has become a pastime now for Sen. Saraki to denigrate the person and the office of the President over sundry political issues. Since Sen. Saraki seems to lack respect for the person of the President, we ask him to please spare a thought for the office the President is holding and stop further unwarranted insult on the office forthwith.

Sen. Saraki's advice to President Goodluck Jonathan on the outcome of the Ekiti election is not only unsolicited but clearly misdirected. If there is any person that should learn a bitter lesson over the APC's loss of Ekiti to the PDP, Saraki is it!

This is because Dr. Kayode Fayemi's defeat in Ekiti is a loud narrative about the significance of humility over arrogance-a character trait that is abundantly evident in President Jonathan but acutely lacking in Sen. Bukola Saraki. It is a lesson on how not to overvalue one's political worth, as it is the case in Saraki's self-acclaimed political leadership of the state. It is a lesson on how a river which treats its source contemptuously would dry up.

From the pedestrian's view of Sen. Saraki on the concept of true grassroots politics, it is obvious that he needs one or two lessons on what is actually meant to be a grassroots politician. If his coming home every month end, especially on the days federal allocation to Kwara State is disbursed, is his definition of grassroots politics, he has missed the point.

It is understating the obvious to say that Sen. Bukola Saraki's 3 years stint in the Senate is a disaster for the people of the Kwara Central Senatorial District. Apart from the fact that Saraki has no single original bill to his credit, he has also, in pursuit of selfish political ends, dragged the state into unnecessary opposition politics. Instead of facing serious legislative duties, which is the primary mandate of his constituents, he has continued to pre-occupy himself with how to bring down the government of Nigeria and the party which made him what he is today; a party that has generously kept faith with the people Kwara state. It is only an ingrate that will stand in opposition to a party that has appointed Kwara's sons and daughters into juicy federal positions like the CBN Governor, Vice-Chancellors of Unilag, Unilorin and FUT-Minna, Chairman FCC, DG, NAICOM, CEO NSDC, etc. But as a Senator representing Kwara State, what achievements can Sen. Saraki point to other than that he has proven bookmakers wrong by successfully holding the state Governor to the jugulars and remote-controlling him till date, to the sad extent that the latter is now rated as 'Nigeria's Most Powerless Governor in History'? How has his 3 years in the Senate impacted the lives of his constituents? Is it his tarring of the same roads he failed to construct during his 8 years tenure as a Governor? Or his organizing a so-called Kwara Youth Employment Submit purportedly to tackle acute unemployment that he failed woefully to address while he held sway?

Kwarans would not forget in a hurry how Saraki openly opposed the reappointment of one of their illustrious sons, Prof. Shuaibu Oba Abdulraheem, as the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission on the floor of the Senate. But for the daring intervention of well-meaning senators, and the fervent prayers of Kwarans, Kwara would have lost that plumb position to another state, much to the delight of Sen. Saraki. Despite appeals by well-meaning members of the Ilorin Emirate Traditional Council, Saraki and his men became blinded to the true feelings of the Kwara people, spat on it and damned the consequences. Are these, therefore, the grassroots that Sen. Saraki will be banking on for votes in 2015?

This is why we are no surprised that Sen. Saraki and the APC-led government of Kwara state have gone on a paid endorsement spree. No amount of endorsement can erase the perception of zero records of the APC-led government of Kwara state. Even if they go to the moon or to mars and pay to be endorsed there, the will of Kwarans will not but ultimately be done.

Chief Rex K. Olawoye
Publicity Secretary