On the occasion of his 54th birthday, no one else but President Muhammadu Buhari used, in his message of felicitation, what perhaps can be regarded as the most apt words in summarization of the essence and personae of the President of the Nigerian Senate, Abubakar Olubukola Saraki, aka Bukola Saraki. In the words of PMB: Senator Saraki is one of the most influential politician in Nigeria’s history who has had tremendous impact in the country and one who has successfully kept the memory of his late father alive by identifying with the grassroots in the home state. Indeed, that is taken as given even by his most critical adversaries. For the mere record of being a two-term governor of Kwara State, and a second term member of the Nation’s Upper Legislative chamber, Bukola Saraki in fact, would justify the presidential description of him as an all-time “influential politician” in the annals of Nigeria’s democracy.
Beyond this, he has further capped his remarkable achievements as one of the few of his peers that have successfully anointed a successor. Not only has his political protégé remained loyal to his mentor even in his own second term, debatably, Governor Ahmed Abdulfatah has by and large justified the confidence reposed in him by Saraki through his monumental accomplishments in uplifting Kwara State higher on the ladder of development. Ask Orji Uzor Kalu, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Ahmed Sani Yerima among other erstwhile governors who had anointed and supported “trusted” candidates to succeed them only for them to realise sooner than later that they had midwifed Frankenstein of monsters that went for the jugulars of all, including those of their creators.
The icing on the cake of Bukola Saraki’s political phenomenon is so far, unarguably, his emergence as the leader of the National Assembly and the dexterity he has been demonstrating in withering the many turbulent storms along the way. Most certainly, Saraki would not have succeeded in the Abdulfatha’s governorship project if he was not sturdily grounded in the grassroots politics of his home state. In the face of the cyclonic opposition to his candidacy, the high-wired political intrigues and brinkmanship that preceded the election of the senate leadership in 2015, only a politician of national clout, influence and reach of the class of a Bukola Saraki could have beaten the odds with the amazing suavity and ease as the case was. The recent decision of the Senators Kabiru Marafa and Suleiman Hunkuyi-led group to withdraw thweir litigation for amicable reconciliation out of court may have finally cleared the only on cloud that had been hovering and threatening the smooth sail of the ship of the senate under the captainship of Bakola Saraki.
Take it or, leave it, Saraki has survived the legendary “bananapeals” that had crumbled many of his predecessors, because he is a politician with a mastery of the essential political vocabularies of knowing when to strike, when the iron is hot, of compromise, concessions and, the spirit of altruism, selflessness single-minded commitment to a given political agenda.
To keen observers, the cords of tranquility and harmony that have been on the firmament of the 8th Senate have come about as a result of the deft political acumen of its leadership. There has been for instance, an unprecedented distribution of strategic comities in a manner that has blurred the usual bickering along regional and political lines. For instance, with members of the minority opposition party having the slots of Deputy Senate President and Chairmen of strategic comities, senators this time around, have been speaking with one voice on issues of critical importance to legislative procedures and promulgation of laws for the good of the wider polity. Under Bakola Saraki, the hitherto seeming intractable conflicts between the House of Representatives and the senate have since been resolved so that the nation has since not witnessed re-enactment of the avoidable, if laughable hullabaloo over such a mundane question of which of the two chambers should be used during joint sessions.
Most importantly, it is to the credit of Bukola Saraki’s leadership that, in spite of the machinations of overt and covert detractors and, in spite of the many instances of incidents of discrepancies or outright derailments from the rules by elements in the executive arm, the National Assembly has maintained congenial relations with the presidency by magnanimously extending the olive branch playing the cards of compromise and concessions in the superior interest of the nation’s democracy and social, economic development. At the same time, Bukola Saraki’s Senate has consistently demonstrated support to the government’s programmes and policies that are palpably geared towards rejuvenating the nation’s ailing economy and bringing it out of recession. This posture, it must be understood, has not however, implied a rubber stamp legislature that swallows line and sinker, all and every step and decisions of the executive especially on issues of vital, fundamental bearings. For instance, it is mark of the independence of the independence of the National Assembly that it has been reluctant or circumspect on the proposal of the executive to go for an external loan of over $30 billion.
Recently it was in the news that APC leadership is embarking on reconciliation and fence mending among its members, obviously in realization of the dangerous signals portending ill-winds. It is only hoped that this venture is sincerely and courageously pursued because, at the end of the day all and everyone in the fold of the party as stakeholders will collectively benefit or lose depending on the outcome of the peace enterprise John Oyegun is embarking upon. On a last note, one cannot but ask the leadership of the ruling of All Progressive Congress, APC the question of how much it has been doing to reciprocate the obvious good will and collaborative gestures of the National Assembly under the leadership of Bukola Saraki? And, any gainsaying the fact that the Senate President in the context of reconciliation in the APC, presents a critical focal point that must be addressed for a genuine, thorough and enduring rapport in the fold?
– Adeleke is a Kaduna-based public commentator.