Voices for, against Saraki loud in Kwara
The Offa bank robbery attack, which led to the killing of 33 people, including police and pregnant women, has continued to cause division among indigenes of Kwara State, where Bukola Saraki is the undisputed political warlord.
The parade of the suspects arrested and the confession from them also indicted the state governor, Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed, in addition to the Senate President.
As things stand now, the state is divided between a group supporting the Senate President and another one backing police investigation of the Offa armed robbery attack.
The arrest of some cultists recently has also changed the narrative from the suspicion of people about cultist operations in the state to pointing fingers at their alleged sponsors.
Since the arrests, there have been a series of rallies in support and against the Senate President for his indictment by the suspects.
Saraki had hinted his colleagues at the Senate that IGP Ibrahim Idris wanted to implicate him and Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed, which was why they transferred the suspected cultists to Abuja.
But a socio-political group, known as Kwara Liberation Group (KLG), described the alarm by Senate President Bukola Saraki and Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed over the transfer of the suspects to the Force Headquarters in Abuja as ridiculous.
The group said they were surprised by the action of Saraki and Ahmed, adding that it was not the first time such transfer would be happening in the state.
The group said this in Ilorin, the state capital during a press conference tagged, “A clarion call on Nigerians to support the course of the law on criminality in Nigeria.’’
Speaking, the chairman of the group and Tafida of Ilorin, Dr Amuda Aluko, said the alarm by the Senate President and the state governor, accusing the IGP of planning to implicate them, was pre-empting the likely consequences while the investigation was still ongoing.
Aluko said that since 2003, Kwara has witnessed wantom destruction of lives and property.
“The public has been made to believe that the perpetrators of the criminal act came outside the state. However, without prejudice to the activities of the security personnel in the state and Nigeria, several open letters, newspaper advertisements and books have been written while countless press releases and briefings had been done by the progressives to sensitise the government at all levels of the problems in the state and probable solutions, but the godfathers to the criminals always subverted the efforts to rid our state of criminals
“We want to make it clear to the public that the police have not in any way gone beyond their limit by transferring the arrested cultists to the Force Headquarters in Abuja because similar transfers had occurred in the past, including the OroAgo Fulani/farmers crisis, Share/Tsaragi crisis, Alapa crisis and the recent robbery attack in Offa.
“What is the concern of the Senate President and the governor in the case? Why have they not made such noise before now, especially on similar cases reported above? Their actions draw us to the plausible conclusion that they have a lot of fears in this matter,” the chairman said.
The Offa Descendant Union (ODU), on its part, called on the police to do a thorough investigation to ensure that innocent people are not punished.
The union made the call in a statement signed by its president, Alhaji Najeem Yasin and the General Secretary, Chief Wosilat Tinuke Macarthy.
The statement read, “The attention of the community has been drawn to the claims made by the police at a press conference in Abuja that some of the suspects arrested in connection with the robbery incident which occurred in Offa in April have implicated Dr. Abubakr Bukola Saraki, the Senate President.
“While we do not want to prejudice the ongoing investigation by the police on this case, the community will appreciate thoroughness to ensure equity and justice on the matter.
“Dr Bukola Saraki, a twoterm former governor of this state and the president of the Senate of this country has always considered Offa as a second home. The Offa people are well bred citizens and are always appreciative of kind gestures and immeasurable benevolence. The community, therefore, holds the Senate President in high esteem. However, this is not to distract or disturb the investigation by the police.
Also, the people of Offa community said they were not against police doing their work, but urged them to investigate the matter thoroughly so as not to indict innocent people.
They said they did not believe that the Senate President had anything to do with the incident because he always regarded Offa as his second home.
Also, the coalition of Kwara youths, under the aegis of Kwara Agenda, asked the Federal Government and the police to stop politicising the Offa robbery incident.
Speaking in Offa during a protest to the Olofa palace by some students, artisans and traders, Chief Ojomu of Offa, High Chief Joseph Akinola, who spoke on behalf of Olofa, Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi Esuwoye II, said that the community had left “what happened to God, but we don’t want the innocent to be punished. We want police to go after the real culprits.”
Dr Bukola Saraki, the Turaki of Ilorin and Baba Adini of Ansarul Islam, came into Kwara politics in 2003 when his father, the late Abubakar Olusola Saraki, had an issue with the then governor of the state, the late Muhammed Lawal, who was seeking re-election.
Saraki came into the race and Kwarans accepted his candidature because of the political structure created by his father. Many also supported him for the fact that he was younger and exposed, qualities that political analysts predicted would be of advantage for the state.
Many projects, such as the construction of the first flyover bridge, establishment of Kwara State University, status change of Ilorin airport to an international one, establishment of aviation college, construction of cargo terminal, though not functional, and construction of some key roads, happened under his watch.
Saraki also has his own share of disagreement with his father while rounding off his second tenure when his father wanted his sister, Gbemisola Saraki, to succeed him as governor. It was learnt that Bukola Saraki fought tooth and nail to ensure that the governorship position was zoned to Kwara South, where the incumbent governor came from.
Saraki’s insistence on zoning of the number one seat in the state to Kwara South led to the exit of his father from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to form another party, Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), where Gbemisola was given the governorship ticket, but unfortunately loss during the 2011 election that produced Abdulfattah Ahmed as the governor of the state.
The incident, Daily Trust on Sunday learnt, led to a takeover of political leadership in Kwara as he demystified his father and became a strong figure to be reckoned with by those seeking elective and appointive positions in the state.
Now, with the Offa incident, Saraki’s power base is divided.