SARAKI, A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE
The Senate President,
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has made potent impact in most of the leadership
positions he held and in his political career. During the administration of
President Olusegun Obasanjo, he was appointed as Special Assistant to the
President on Budget. During his tenure, Saraki initiated the Fiscal
Responsibility Bill. He also served on the Economic Policy Coordination
Committee, where he was responsible for the formulation and implementation of
several key economic policies for Nigeria which significant impact was made.
He became the Governor
of Kwara State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in May
2003 and was re-elected in 2007 for the second term. While he was the governor,
he led reforms in agriculture, health, education, finance and environment
policy. One of his major achievements
was inviting displaced White farmers from Zimbabwe to Kwara State and offering
them an opportunity to farm. This led to the establishment of Shonga Farms
Programme, which is being replicated across Nigeria. His charisma among his
fellow governors got him appointed Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
During his tenure,
Kwara became the first state to complete the Nigeria Independent Power Project;
he introduced new health programmes including a state-wide campaign in 2008 to
reduce maternal and child mortality from malaria; he introduced agricultural
policy reforms to increase the commercial viability of farming, and also the
volume of exports to international markets; he led significant and state-wide
infrastructural development including improvements at the Ilorin International
Airport Cargo Terminal, extensive road construction, and development of new
sporting facility such as the Kwara Football Academy.
Most of those who hate
Saraki have not taken time to at least eulogize him for the impact he has made
in his leadership and political career, but are quick to tag him to corruption
as if he has never done anything worthy of commendation. He has made numerous headlines recently on
print, electronic and new media with regard to corruption. Saraki is just a
victim of circumstance in the corruption allegations and charges against him.
Today, some groups of
political elites are fighting Saraki through the media and other means because
he refused to project their interest. His major crime to them is because he
became the Senate President against their plan. The corruption charges against
him are politically motivated. Most of
those who claim to be crusaders against corruption do not have the interest of
Nigeria at heart but are fighting him for their selfish interest especially
those who because of their avarice are hankering for an inextinguishable
wealthy lifestyle and political influence.
If Saraki had not
emerged as the President of the Senate and had allowed and supported Ahmed
Ibrahim Lawan to become the Senate President as earlier planned by All
Progressive Congress’ (APC) elite, nobody would have brought corruption
allegations and charges against him and would have been portrayed as a saint by
the APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the elite.
This is how politics in
Nigeria plays out. Corruption allegations and charges only affect those who
work against the interest of the cabal or elite. When you are against the
interest of the cabal or elite, that is when they will remember that you
embezzled N10 billion when you were the governor, minister, director and so on;
that is when they will remember that you did not remit $60 million to the Federal Government of Nigeria; that is when
they will remember that the certificate you used to contest election was
forged; that is when they will remember that there are some Federal Government
or State Government projects that you did not complete while you were in charge
and so on.
Situations like these
have occurred many times in the administrations of Obasanjo, Late Yar’Adua and
Jonathan. One of the situations that surprised me was when the then Governor of
Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi now the Emir of Kano, and addressed as Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, accused
Jonathan and the Federal Government of being culpable for the missing $20
billion of Nigeria’s oil money. Before the accusation, Jonathan and his Federal
Government saw nothing wrong in Sanusi, but the day that accusation was made;
that was when they remembered that Sanusi also involved in some corrupt
practices while he was the Governor of CBN which led to his suspension and
sack.
When the Governor of
Rivers State, Ezenmo Nyesom Wike set up a committee to probe the former Governor
of Rivers, Chibuike Rotimi Ameachi ; Buhari, the Federal Government and the APC
elite never saw any wrong Ameachi did while he was the governor. In fact, they
did not even halt the process to set up a separate committee to find out if
such corruption allegations and charges against him were true. They proceeded
and used federal powers to ensure that Ameachi was confirmed as Minister even
when the committee set up by Wike indicted him of corruption. But if Ameachi
wasn’t in the good book of Buhari, the
Federal Government or the APC elite, that is when they would have seen him as
the most corrupt person in Nigeria and would have called EFCC to swing into
action against him.
When the Governor of
Ekiti, Ayo Fayose once said that EFCC is a federal government “machine gun”
that is used to fight those who oppose Federal Government and the elite, he was
not far from the truth.
If Saraki committed
financial crimes while he was the Governor of Kwara State, were there no EFCC
and ICPC at that time to follow him up and charge him to court when his tenure
expired in 2011? If EFCC and ICPC actually followed him up at that time, why
didn’t they intensify the investigation and charge him to court only for them
to resurface today in the corruption fight against him? It was even when he had
political misunderstanding with Jonathan and some PDP elites that EFCC
remembered then that he indulged in corruption. His misunderstanding with
Jonathan and PDP finally made him defect to APC when he was the Senator after
being elected in 2011.
The way politics plays
out in Nigeria, anyone who steps on the toes of the elites or cabal, no matter
the potent impact such a person had made in the past would likely become a
victim of circumstance just like Saraki has become despite his good leadership
while he was the Governor of Kwara State which they fail to acknowledge.
By Terfa Naswem
