Standing on the side of the people

The height political attackers, fifth columnists can go to denigrate and disparage the achievements and feats of their political opponents in Nigeria seems to know no limit. The fifth columnists attempted to paint the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki as the villain of the political event of Kwara state in 2010 when Bukola, then as […]

The height political attackers, fifth columnists can go to denigrate and disparage the achievements and feats of their political opponents in Nigeria seems to know no limit.

The fifth columnists attempted to paint the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki as the villain of the political event of Kwara state in 2010 when Bukola, then as the outgoing two-term Governor, stood against the wish of his father Oloye Olusola Saraki (of blessed memory) to install Bukola’s sister, Senator Gbemi Saraki as Bukola’s successor. Does that sound pleasant to the ears? Bukola Saraki strongly opposed this move by his father; instead, he championed and fully supported the cause for the election of the present governor, Abdulfatai Ahmed. What should he have done to prove he is a true democrat and firm believer in the principle of equity?

What would the APC and cohorts have called Bukola Saraki’s action if he had yielded to the wish of his father by allowing his sister take over power from him after his eight years as the state governor?

What Saraki did in 2010 by supporting Governor Ahmed other than his family member further bears testament to his true progressivism. Only a true defender of democracy could have stood against the wish of his family for the sake of national and public interest. It is however sad that the same people who are presently celebrating the “bending of rule of law for national interest” want to crucify a man who bent family interest for the interest of the larger society.

Their fear is understandable, what Bukola Saraki did in 2010 is playing out again in 2018. Saraki has decided to stand on the side of the people who have been oppressed. His exit from the APC to give hope to the oppressed members of the larger society is not expected to be taken without a fight back from those still nursing the injury caused by Saraki’s exit. While they are at that, they need to be reminded that the dead deserves some honour, they should leave the late Patriarch out of their dirty fight.

It will also not be out of place to remind those who want to distort facts by rewriting history the way it suits them, that Bukola Saraki and his father mend all walls and put the political differences behind them before the death of the latter.

What is more important to Nigerians now is issue based campaign as the 2019 conversation begins,  not the mud fights and throwing of tantrums the ruling party has abandoned governance for in the past three years. We need to stay focused.

Femi Salako, Lagos