By Comrade Abdulfatai Issa
Since the exit of Bukola Saraki from the All Progressives Congress, APC, expectedly there have been series of attempts by the politicians in the opposition business in Kwara state to take over the leadership of the APC and enjoy the largesse that come with being in a party that controls the center. This is not unexpected as it is a repetition of the 2014/2015 playbook, when these self acclaimed leaders scramble for control and ticket of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. No doubt, Saraki’s exit would leave a vacum diffilcult to fill.
A very disturbing strategy adopted by most of these elements in the PDP then was blackmail. They accused one another of being moles or agents of Saraki to disstabilize the party. This was the trend for most of the time they ought to have used to carefully and collectively plan to defeat the dominant Saraki force. Of course, these politicians know this but the selfishness and personal interest won’t allow them consider the collective interest of the society which need to be salvaged from decades of misrule.
Yinka Aluko, Gbemi Saraki, SS Ajibola, Lanre Onilu, and quite a number of other prominent forces were at different times accused of working as mole. This level of political blackmail of course affected the unity and synergy that was required to give a good fight at the polls.
Now again, another unique opportunity has presented itself before the politicians in the state, yet they seem not to have learnt anything from the past. They have started accusing one another of working for Saraki, an illusion that is not supported or guided by fact or logical reasoning. Even the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa is toeing this same path of failure by reducing himself to be a tool of spreading cheap political blackmail. At several fora, BOB has popularly called has tagged some gubernatorial aspirants as mole, this is an individual that ought to use his office to unite the party and ensure collective efforts are geared towards party victory.
Ambassador Abdulfatah Yahaya Seriki, a young and successful businessman who has never benefited from the Saraki hegemony either politically or privately is being said to be working for Saraki simply because he has consistently cautioned the leadership of the party against rumored imposition of an unknown figure Ahmed-Mustapha Akanbi as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC.
As if the false rumor against Yahaya Seriki wasn’t enough, BOB at a meeting in Abuja openly accused a shining light and popular politician and Philanthropist Mallam Saliu Mustapha of working for Saraki. This is another joke taken too far. A simple research through memory lane would have guided BOB to avoid embarrasing as Saliu Mustapha remains one of the closest ally of President Muhammadu Buhari alive right from the APP to ANPP to the CPC days. Maybe BOB also forgot that Saliu Mustapha was the Deputy National Chairman of the CPC, a party that solely belonged to The Buharists. Infact it was Saliu Mustapha that led the CPC team into the interim executives of the merger in 2013, due to the illness of the then Chairman, Tony Momoh. If not for efforts of men like Saliu Mustapha, BOB will have no business with government at the center today. I’m sure President Buhari will laugh at such a statement from BOB. BOB doesn’t know how far and how deep Saliu Mustapha and Muhammadu Buhari had gone.
The third of the list of BOB accusation is Senator Gbemi Saraki. BOB also expressed his discomfort with the former lawmaker just because she share the same DNA with Bukola Saraki. These myopic and primitive level of politicking from characters like BOB is the cause of continuous dominance of Bukola Saraki in Kwara politics. Rather than concentrating on building a strong platform to free kwarans from misrule, BOB and his likes are busy planning on how to serve a misguided Agenda by preparing ground for an anointed candidate who is neither popular nor acceptable, Ahmed Mustapha-Akanbi.
Next on their agenda is to discredit Modibbo Kawu, Lukman Mustapha, Chairman of Sobi FM over his relationship with Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed. To men like BOB, you cannot have friend from the other side of the political divide. They tagged Abdulrahman Razaq as “Unserious”, Professor Oba Abdulraheem as “too old”, Moshood Mustapha as “crook and Bukky’s boy”. In the eyes of BOB, only his anointed candidate is worthy of the APC ticket.
It is therefore important at this point for the leadership of the party and the Presidency to take note of the political expansionism of a caucus that is playing out in Kwara APC. These people must be checked and the will of the people must be allowed to prevail. Anything less than free, fair and transparent process in the selection of candidates for the APC, you will be empowering the monster Bukola Saraki the more to continue to dominate Kwara. BOB Must be Warned!!!
