No Jupiter would have envisaged the precocious collapse of the Saraki dynasty. In fact, it was thought that it would surpass a record set by the Yamato Dynasty (in Japan) as the longest-serving in the world. But alas! The humongous power base fell just like a bale of cotton.
Leave it or take it, Saraki is a Field Marshal in the political Warfare of Nigeria. I might and might not be an aficionado of this astute political influencer, but he had wielded unprecedented political clout in the 8th Assembly as he showed to the population of over two hundred million people how the senate and the seat of senate presidency could be independent of the domineering claws and dictate of the executive.
For those of us who are or were outside Kwara State, we came to the reality that his fame has traversed beyond the shore of his immediate political fortresses- if you were not for Buhari, you can’t but subscribe to the GROW NIGERIA vanguard. In our various enclaves, we saw that his political sagacity and acumen had endeared him to the vast majority of people and they were massively connecting to his political philosophy.
One of those booming moments for Saraki as a political emperor was his CCT travails period. At that crucial time, he enjoyed political sympathy and affection from both the length and breadth of the country which was occasioned by the effusive thought that he was being vilified for having overrun Tinubu’s ambition to implant his own loyalist on the Senate Presidency stool.
Saraki is a miniaturised political deity who is not only grounded but also versed in the modern arts and science of polity. Within his sixteen years of active politicking, he had made himself an enviable catalyst among the retinue of politicians within and outside the country.
However, it is indeed, appaling how the erstwhile lord and master of Kwara polity submerged in the 2019 political tsunami- he must, willy nilly appease the gods of political rebirth in his closet.
Is the game over or is Saraki coming back?
The above poser is enigmatic as it is fit to subject an inquisitive mind to an endless rumination. Can we presume that his kind gestures and philanthropic practices aftermath of his unprecedented defeat were suggestive of his unrelenting resolve to rebound from political misfortune? It is a conspicuous fact that Saraki’s political quietus has poured cold water on the blazing conflagration of the Nigerian polity.
It is a common saying that no one sow where he does not reap. Just a few months after his loss, leader as he is fondly called by his admirers has not ceased to continue to provide funding for the refurbishment of Central Mosque ancestral Agbaji home couple with the 50 NABTEB forms he purchased for indigenes of Agbaji.
He was said to have built classrooms in twenty-four schools across Kwara Central Senatorial District.
He constructed the Gerewu road.
Just last month, he provided Educational support materials for students at various summer coaching centres.
He has been actively engaging youth (directly and indirectly) in the state to brief them about his new agenda for the state.
Renovation of some mosques across Kwara Central Senatorial District.
Sponsoring of indigent Kwarans in various tertiary institutions.
Could the leader be merely showing some sense of magnanimity or trying to subtly announce his rennaisance unto the political space of Kwara?
According to Henry Ford, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” Has Oga learnt his lesson? Saraki is like an ember of the fire that rejuvenates so quickly. I believe Saraki is a captain whose ship can not sink or capsize so fast. He is a daredevil character who firmly reckons that there is still a new beginning after an end.
There is a popular Yoruba witty saying that: if the wall does not break, no lizard can penetrate it. With the current seemingly unending hassle brewing between governor AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman and the Kwara State All Progressive Congress chairman, Bolarinwa Omolaja Bashir and (indirectly) Lai Mohammed over who should take charge of the party’s structure. Saraki might be lurking around the corner, exploiting the ugly situation in the APC camp to plan his comeback in 2023.
But the puzzling question is, with all these endless largesse and welfare programmes with which he has been inundating the state, if in all sincerity Saraki is coming back, In what capacity? As senator? President? Or …?
2023 is around the corner peeping at us. Let us keep our fingers crossed as political melodrama unfolds.