Saraki’s yoke will be broken in 2019 general election, Group says
A political group, Ilorin Emirate for Buhari, IEB, claimed the Kwara State chapter of All Progressive Congress, APC, have in its rank men and women whose loyalty to the party is in doubt on account of their relationships with Senate President Bukola Saraki.
The group in a statement its Director of Publicity, Mr. Rotimi Sulyman, released urged public-spirited persons opposed to Saraki’s hegemony in the state and desired Buhari’s reelection to exercise caution when relating politically with some politicians in the State chapter of APC.
It said, some of the party chieftains have long histories of closeness with the Senate President, thereby casting doubt on their loyalty to APC and lowering the party’s chances of winning the state.
The statement reads: “We have witnessed with mixed feelings events in Kwara APC on whose platform we are campaigning for President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection, particularly as regards the make-up of the party members.
“We are convinced that Senate President Bukola Saraki does not have the traction of President Muhammadu Buhari in Kwara, and the Saraki’s yoke will be broken in 2019 general election by Kwarans.
“But we have well-founded suspicion that some Kwara APC chieftains may not be committed to Buhari’s reelection but ensure the people of the state miss out on witnessing the curtain falling on the Sarakis’ dominance of the state politics come 2019.
“A case in point is Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, an ex-governorship aspirant, who recently decamped to APC from PDP after Saraki defected to the opposition. Jani has always moved party to avoid being in the same party with the Senate President. This, for the uninitiated and at face value, a suggestion that they are not on good terms.
“However, the curious fact is that Jani was Saraki’s college brother in their secondary school days at Kings College, Lagos. Another, is that both are believed to have a controlling interest in one of Nigeria’s new generation bank.”
The group hit out at Saraki’s recent visit to Gen Ibrahim Babangida (Rtd), in Minna, the Niger State, which he gushed about on his verified Facebook page in a post accompanied by his picture with the ex-Head of States writing, “Dropped in to pay my respects to General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Always happy to be with a father and leader.”
It said the Senate President’s action and statement underlined his alleged hatred for Kwara and her people.
According to the group: “The expression, ‘Show me your friends and I ‘ll tell you who you are,’ holds true of the bromance between Senate President Bukola Saraki and ex-Head of States Ibrahim Babangida. Saraki threw bile at Buhari who had a hand in the making of our son, Late Major General Tunde Idiagbon, the de facto Vice President as the Chief of Staff between 1983-1985 while the President was Head of States.
“Babangida overthrew the government that was more or less led by a Kwaran given that it was the only military regime where the number 2 man was as prominent as his boss. To add insult to our injury, IBB during his regime ceded Kanji dam, one of Nigeria’s oldest dams generating about 500 megawatts of electricity, which hitherto was under Kwara to his home state, Niger.
“The same Babangida during his regime also robbed Kwara of the Upper and Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority to pay Minna. It was during his time as military leader, the Ilorin headquarter of the federal government agency was relocated to Minna, the Niger State capital to the displeasure of Kwarans.
“It is so not difficult to understand why Saraki is full of disdains for Buhari but lionises and fetes Babangida. It is because both are alike in their streak of hatred for Kwara and her people.”
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