17 hours Ago By Guardian Nigeria
The resignation of former Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is more than a mere political development. Although he is yet to disclose the next political party he would join, the development has not just thrown the party into a state of shock but has equally roughened the path of the opposition in the political scene of Kwara State. Since he made the announcement, there has not been any major reaction from the party at the state level.
But in a chat with The Guardian in Ilorin, the state party Chairman, Tunde Mohammed, said Abdullahi did not leave the party in a bad spirit, citing how the ex-minister rose to political stardom through the platform of the national leader of the party, Senator Bukola Saraki. “Abdullahi acknowledged this fact in his resignation by thanking the leadership of the party for giving him many opportunities to serve the state and the nation,” Mohammed said. He added: “He was made the Commissioner for Education and rose to emerge as the Minister of Sports.
In 2019, he was an aspirant for the position of governor, and in the last general election, he was the carrier of our flag for the Kwara Central Senatorial District but lost.” Many other party bigwigs in the state declined to comment on the development. Sources however said the resignation could not be divorced from the alleged “rift” between him and the former Senate President, Saraki but they did not disclose the cause of the “rift”.
Nevertheless, Abdullahi’s parting of ways at the heat of the re-assembling of politicians opposed to the administrative style of the incumbent Governor Mallam AbdulRahaman AbdulRazak would no doubt be a hurdle to the realignment of forces in the state. Speaking with The Guardian, Abdullahi simply said, “it is a decision I had to take when I did.” Saraki as the governor of the state for eight consecutive years (2003-2011) inherited some foot soldiers from the political empire of his late father, Dr.
Olusola Saraki. Among these were Bio Ibrahim, Ahmad Ahmed, Cook Olododo, late Yusuff Kayode (Maja), Ayinla Musa Yeketi, Bibire Ajape, Hajia Nimota Ibrahim, Ebun Owolabi, Banke Badmus and Rex Kola Olawoye, of blessed memories. These individuals were regarded as rugged foot soldiers that could bring out wild honey from the rock for the older Saraki, popularly called ‘Oloye.
’ But due to the age of these politicians and probably the need to have a new set of politicians who could be closer to the age of the ex-governor, he had to assemble some egg heads and technocrats who promptly learnt the rudiments of politicking. In this group of young, vibrant and brilliant new-breeds was Abdullahi, who was then a versatile columnist with Thisday newspaper. Others were ex-governor of the state, AbdulFatah Funsho Ahmed, Dr.
Alli Ahmad, AbdulRasak Atunwa, Gbenga Makanjuola, Raheem Adedoyin, Moshood Mustapha, Toyin Sanusi, Wahab Issa, among others. These younger ones were touted as the pivots of the political empire of the Sarakis. Many of them were said to have confronted the former Senate President, who is regarded as the inheritor of his father’s of political empire, with the fact that the political movement should not be regarded as the exclusive right and property of the biological children of the great Saraki.
The younger Saraki had to bow to the people’s wish when he backed Ahmed as his successor against his biological sister, Rukayyat Gbemisola Saraki. In the same vein, he picked Atunwa as Ahmed’s successor, an experiment that eventually died on arrival. Atunwa fell like a pack of cards to the ‘O Toge’ political ‘tsunami’ that brought the incumbent Governor AbdulRazaq to power.
Many political observers had linked the setback the empire suffered to an alleged prolonged absence of Saraki from the local political scene. He was at the time battling for survival as the Senate President. His lieutenants at the home front could not ward off the storm and when Saraki eventually appeared at the scene at the eleventh hour to the election, it was already a belated effort.
According to the late Yusuff, who had reflected on the outcome of the election, “we never thought that the salvos being thrown at the empire could make it weak. We tried to ward them off but to no avail. When ‘Oga’ (Saraki) came home for political campaigns we noticed unprecedented high level of resistance in many places.
We tried our best to douse the campaigns of calumny against us but the people had already made up their minds.” Attesting to the power of the ‘O’Toge’ movement, Femi Yusuff aka ‘Koto- Koto –Koto’, who is today the executive Chairman of Ifelodun Local Council of the state, said: “We harvested the weak points of the then ruling party, exposed same to the public with accurate data and told the voters the inherent dangers in voting them back to powers. The result is now history.
” Ironically, the PDP is at present using the same weapon of propaganda against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) but future election would reveal the level of efficacy of their weapon. Cross carpeting is continuing in the political space in the state. But of a great concern are the ones involving tested PDP members.
Many of them claimed to be without a political party “for now.” Others had declared for the ruling APC. Ajape led those that decamped to the APC while Makanjuola is a prominent member of those still sitting on the fence.
However, of a great concern to many political pundits in the state is the public declaration by Abdullahi of his exit from Saraki’s camp. What could have led to this unceremonious quitting from a system that launched him to the zenith of his political career? Abdullahi, according to sources, had shortly before the emergence of Atunwa as the governorship candidate of the PDP in the last gubernatorial poll in the state, believed that he was the going to be the anointed candidate for the post. This postulation could be believed considering the issues surrounding his resignation as minister under the administration of former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
It was alleged then that Saraki was having a cold war with Jonathan. Therefore, Abdullahi’s continued presence in Jonathan’s cabinet could be interpreted as an overt support of the minister for Jonathan against Saraki, his much touted benefactor. Therefore, when Abdullahi tendered his resignation from Jonathan’s cabinet, he was given an appellation of ‘Omoluabi’ (a properly brought up personality) by political observers in the state.
He was therefore alleged to have expected that the governorship ticket would be handed to him as a ‘compensation’ for his loyalty to his political mentor. Instead, it went to Abdullahi Yaman from Kwara North Senatorial District. According to the state PDP chairman, Mohammed, “it was proper and a good political game for us then to have looked the way of our people in the north for the ticket, in view of the fact that the incumbent is from the Kwara Central Senatorial District.
So it was for political reasons that the party did what it did at the time.” Abdullahi was said to have reluctantly picked for the PDP Senatorial ticket at the Central but eventually lost to Solihu Mustapha, an Ilorin turbaned Chief. A close ally of Abdullahi, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “A the PDP candidate, he was not financially assisted.
He had to use his resources to prosecute the polls. He expected compensations at the end, which did not come. He was treated as a political leper.
Even his calls were reluctantly responded to by the leader and some other notable top echelons of the party. These had been ongoing silently for about one year before he eventually pulled out of the party.” But Hajia Ibrahim thought otherwise; “Abdullahi should have exercised more patience.
He met some of us at the political scene. In actual fact, he succeeded me in office as the Commissioner for Education in the state. Everyone will surely have his or her turn because politics is not just about one person.
It is about collective decisions and exigencies of the time.” Abdullahi’s exit may however be a short-lived one after all, especially if the party elders are able to act promptly and address the issues raised by his ally. He may have tacitly decided in his mind on the party to join, but his reluctance to join could be an opportunity for the plucking of the proverbial Olive Branch.
But if Abdullahi’s ‘grouse’ against the party or some individuals in it has no nexus with any of the issues raised by his crony, then the ‘rift’ could be irreconcilable. What could be a cumbersome issue to resolve is what may happen to the political fortunes of some of the aides that have abandoned Saraki now if he fortuitously stages a successful comeback in the 2027 general election. If he would follow the path of his late father, he may simply gloss over the issue and accept them again into the fold.
But if he decides to act like the Biblical Rehoboth who ignored the counsel of the elders who advised his father, Solomon, for those of his age bracket, then the refrain may simply be “to your tents oh my former aides.” The state PDP chairman, however, noted: “Saraki, our leader, is of a kind heart. I don’t see him fighting with anyone.
If however there are issues of great concerns within the party, all of us and not him alone have a greater role to play in this respect.”.
