Only few politicians continue to be focus of public discourse, especially after leaving office. Among this few is Dr. Bukola Saraki who marks another birthday on mother earth on Sunday. It is a matter of how impactful his foray in the murky waters of politics has been that some 11 years after he left office as governor of Kwara State, and nearly three years after as president of the 8th Senate, Saraki remains a subject of discourse at several levels.
People who make impacts hit on others to create and maybe, remodel; because the very nature of impact is to disrupt; to ensure a shift, a movement, a rustling of feathers, in order to achieve a desirable goal. Saraki has been each and all of these since he stepped he became a governor. In the eight years he spent in the saddle he disrupted many established ways of doing things, and got better results. He reworked the revenue generation format, a format his protégé and successor, Abdulfatah Ahmed would later build upon to create one of the best internal revenue generating systems in Nigeria. The records are there.
Saraki remodeled how agriculture is done in this country. For Nigeria to attain any meaningful sustainable development strategy goal, the focus has to be on agribusiness. This is what Saraki realised long ago by bringing displaced but experienced Zimbabwe farmers for possible transfer of agribusiness culture. Though federal policy issues have not allowed the project attain its full potential, some of the farmers have transformed challenges into opportunities with unusual commitment to vision and goals, and today have created one of the biggest poultry establishments in West Africa.
A relatively new University, Kwara State University, Malete, established by the former governor remains one of the best in the country in terms of its infrastructure, physical and educational development. Largely focused on sustainable human capital and intellectual development, the university remains a reference point even 11 years after Saraki left office. Saraki left his footprints on every sector of human growth and development. The state’s health insurance policy developed by his administration is capable of providing sustainable primary and secondary health care services for the rural and urban communities if properly harnessed by the current administration in the state. Saraki also ensured rustling of feathers in 2012 with the establishment of Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre (HADC), a state-of-the-art modern healthcare facility, with a mission to ensure the consistent provision of reliable comprehensive diagnostic and allied healthcare services.
Again, Saraki created a shift in manpower development at the political level. Those who are surprised at his engagements with younger people today and think it is a ploy to secure acceptance should rather check his antecedents as a governor. He fished out and created a new set of political generation that speaks the language of this age while not dispensing with the wisdom of those who have been before them. His tenure created the like of Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, a banker turned politician. Rafiu carved a niche for himself in the Red chambers as chairman, Senate Committee on Banking and other Financial Institutions. A former member, Kwara State House of Assembly and the Federal House of Representatives, today Rafiu remains a reference point of humanist, humility, resourcefulness and community development.
Saraki exposed the potentials of Bolaji Abdullahi; a young, brilliant journalist who would serve as special assistant, commissioner, minister and then play at the party level as national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He brought out Zakari Mohammed, another exceptional journalist who also served first as Special Adviser before becoming commissioner and then going to the House of Representatives where he served brilliantly as spokesman for the House to the admiration of all Nigerians. He fished out Abdulfatah Ahmed, a banker who would serve as commissioner before becoming the governor. As governor, his achievements testify to Saraki’s forensic knowledge of humanity.
There are many others; this list serves as merely an insight into the political philosophy of Saraki, a philosophy that has made him a reference point not only in his native state of Kwara, but indeed, the entirety of Nigeria. Only few politicians, after leaving office, command the kind of respect and followership that this medical doctor-turned politician has been able to garner in the last 14 years, across political, ethnic and religious divides. When he won election as a member of the 7th National Assembly, Saraki carried with him to the senate the concept notes for his disruptive philosophy, having seen its effectiveness in Kwara State; to create a new set of federal lawmakers who will see issues beyond the prism of partisanship but be bold enough to speak truth to power.
He succeeded otherwise his election as senate president, which definitely rattled well-oiled political establishments, would not have been possible, especially when the persecution over his effrontery began. Yet, instead of being abandoned, it is on record that Saraki got great support from his colleagues and ran one of the most united and successful Red Chambers in the contemporary history of the Nigerian Senate. In 2014, he was bold enough to tell the president from his own political party that things were not going on well with the nation under him and in 2019, he was bold enough again to say the same to the man he had helped to become the president. In both instances, he was not afraid of the possible backlash of his decision. If it is in public interest, Saraki cares much for the people than for any politician’s feeling. Truth has no two colours to Saraki.
After leaving office in 2019, during what is considered as a political disaster as he lost all elective posts competed for by himself and his allies in his state, many had thought it was all over for him. But no, not Saraki who took the development with philosophical calmness and as one who submits willingly to the decision of the Almighty. While others were sneering, Saraki was working, picking the pieces together for his political party, first silently, and then at a point more visibly. His silent moves as he led the national reconciliation committee of the PDP have brought many former foes into the fold of the party. From the defeat of 2019, Saraki, working with many other committed party leaders, has succeeded in recreating a PDP that is now definitely a thorn in the flesh of the APC. In Kwara State, and at the national level, Saraki remains a subject of discourse. Every step of the incumbent government in Kwara State is defined as successful if it affects a Saraki legacy. And at the national level, they have started to noise his name about again, as an irritant.
But truth is, for those affected by the effects of his disruptive engagements, they cannot have anything good to say about him, expectedly. Today, however, is not for those people. Today I choose to celebrate a leader and a mentor. Happy birthday!
Oba, former chairman, NUJ, Lagos State Council, writes from Ilorin
Source: The Nation