For Lanre Mustapha, a former ex-officio of the party during its PDP days, this was an “extra ordinary appointment”. For years, despite being a very loyal and faithful member of the structure, he seems to have been forgotten or given the “used and dump” treatment in the political parlance. He subsequently became a subject of ridicule by political enemies many of whom mocked him over his “predicament”.
To handle the reportedly “frustrating” situation, Landmark as he is popularly known “managed” with his contracting firm. It was while he lingered in this “miserable political wilderness” that hope came his way thanks to the influence and magnanimity of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. He was announced among the beneficiaries from the state by the federal government for the board appointments.
Describing the development, Mustapha said this means “a lot to him and other appointees” and will greatly impact the community that has long suffered neglect in this regard.
“This appointment means a lot to me and many other appointees including the community. Mind you, it is the first time the state will have such large number of federal board appointees at a go unlike before when we talked of five or even less than that”, he added.
And for Senator Salman Ishaq Adebayo, after his stint as a member of the 4th senate in 1999 where he served as the minority leader, he had been out of political appointment for years. It was while in that state of political “silence”, with all its attendant consequences that his name surfaced on the list of the federal board appointees facilitated by Saraki. That gesture changed the narrative.
In that initial state of “despair”, there were insinuations that Adebayo was being mocked by opposing politicians for standing behind a system that is only concerned about the present and forget the sweat of loyal members that stood with it in the past.
According to the Abuja based doctor, while speaking with National Pilot about the appointment, it was initially a hopeless situation following years of support for the dynasty adding that he “almost lost hope”.
“We had almost lost hope. For years we had stood solidly behind the structure and supported it. After the party came to power, we had hoped against hope bearing in mind that the first four years was winding down”, he submitted.
The appearance of the name of the Magaji Nda of Ilorin, Alhaji Soliu Woru Mohammed in the federal board appointees list added another dimension to the whole scenario. For years Magaji Nda has stood solidly behind the late Olusola Saraki and transferred that extraordinary allegiance to the Senate President.
When Magaji Nda at a time said he was ready to receive bullet for the late Saraki and his son, the senate president to demonstrate his uncommon loyalty, he faced serious “oppression” from some members of the community who were quick to accuse him of taking his commitment to the Saraki’s cause too far especially being a traditional institution person.
There were quite a few commentaries from the opposite quarters criticising Magaji Nda for his stand with the insinuation that nothing will come out of such blanket followership.
But not only did something came out for Magaji Nda, it was a scenario that threw close to forty Kwarans in the national limelight on the list of federal board appointees in what sources at the senate president office described as a tip of the iceberg compared to what is in store for the state in terms of appointments and projects through Saraki.
According to the Magaji Nda, the appointment was a surprising scenario for him and one that only pointed to the fact that the Senate President is a man of promise and a friend of the weak and oppressed who have been wrongly vilified and castigated by political detractors.
Now for a state that has long been seen as civil service state, the “appointment industry” in Kwara is one of the sectors in the emirate and the state in general that the people look up to with bated breath hoping when the pendulum will swing their way. The agitation has now reached “fever pitch” especially during this period that many believed an employment embargo exist across the nation.
Although, the APC is approaching its last lap in the marathon race for 2019, there is every indication that this is a new dawn in Kwara and another phase of its political development which can only get better going forward with Saraki at the apex of the senate leadership and all benefits of such office that had long eluded the state.
In his drive to continue to provide purposeful representation for the people of Ilorin community and the entire emirate, Saraki has taken the development wheel of the region to a level never before imagined in both official and personal capacity within the timeframe of his emergence.
From the last federal board appointment of indigenes of the community facilitated by Saraki, Ilorin and Kwara made history as the state with the single largest beneficiaries in the entire country from the federal board appointment list of over one thousand two hundred names. And with the assurances from the federal government that the second batch list is due to be released any moment from now, the import is that Ilorin indigenes and the emirate is poised to further reap the benefit from the exalted office.
With the narrative above, the Ilorin community in the coming days ahead is expected to swell with appointments that cut across all strata of the country’s economy and when those who have been favoured by Saraki replicates the gesture by attracting their kinsmen, the overall effect, many have said, is massive and enormous and has already given the community a special mention in very high quarters across the country.
Towards this end, there is already a groundswell of agitation that this is the time for Saraki’s immediate constituency to jettison politics of backwardness and retrogression and continue to support him for the community to continue to enjoy the ‘spoils of office’ that people of his predecessors like Senator David Mark and others have done.
The time for politics, many have argued, has gone and this is the era of the development of a community that has never had it so good. Nothing, they insist, should stop the turn of Ilorin and the entire emirate from profiting from such advantage at this time of its history.
According to political pundits who have warned on the consequences on engaging in the politics of pull-him-down, this is the right time for everybody, irrespective of religion, tribe or ethnicity to rally round Saraki and together move against those that may want to pull the state backward in the name of opposition politics or antagonist to the Saraki dynasty. This becomes very necessary because it is the state that will be at the receiving end at the end of the day.
Speaking on the issue, chairman of APC in the state, Hon Ishola Balogun Fulani, said all appointments and development are just a tip of the iceberg and this year 2018 is going to witness massive addition to the already numerous projects going on in the state.
Balogun-Fulani’s view was corroborated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje who recently said at a public function of the Ilorin Emirate Descendant Progressive Union (IEDPU) that, but for the initial squabbles within the APC when Saraki initially emerged Senate President in 2015 which slowed things down, the story would have been different and sweeter than the present narrative for Ilorin community and the Kwara central region.
According to him, though Saraki has indeed started to accomplish promises made to the people, he is yet to be satisfied on how the community has benefited adding that Saraki is more than ever before ready to cast the past behind him and look forward to surpass what past senate presidents have attracted to their constituents and the emirate has been the greatest beneficiary.
While the euphoria of the appointments has sent a message of hope to the community, already, Saraki has again blazed the trail in constituency representation in the country with the audacious move to open Constituency Offices to be manned by four staff in each of the 52 Wards in the Kwara Central senatorial district, a promise that was recently fulfilled with announcement of over 156 staff as legislative aides.
For the records, there has not been any sector in the state that has not benefited from the constituency and personal interventions of the Senate President in the state which cut across religion, education, employment, empowerment and infrastructure among other numerous projects most of which have been executed.
In November 2016, despite the distraction from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) trial, Saraki, nevertheless, launched the Skill Acquisition, Training and Empowerment Programme (STEP) to empower 40,000 youths in the state.
A month later in December 2016, the Senate President sent tongues wagging with his carefully crafted idea and very impactful decision to awards scholarships to 71 First-Class graduates of Kwara origin from universities across the country in the 2015/2016 academic session to enable beneficiaries pursue their Masters degrees.
As these were ongoing, there was the passage of the Not-Too-Young-to-Run-Bill and now waiting for the President’s ascent which had already started yielding fruits for the youth in the state especially in the last local government election.
Today across the Kwara central region, projects on roads, culverts, drainages and erosion control intervention dotted many areas across the state and with the quality of works being executed, many indigenes of the state some of whom have lost hope on where to get succour have expressed hope and expectation of better representation this year.
In the aspect of water, the office of the Senate President recently flagged off the rehabilitation of the Sobi waterworks to serve residents of Ilorin East, South and Moro local government area of the state which will deliver 2 million gallons of water per day when completed which has reputedly been operating on twenty five percent (25%) efficiency in the last 15 years.
As at the last count, over two hundred (200) constituency projects in which there are more than twenty communal road projects that are eighty percent (80%) completed and will be commissioned soon across the four local government that make up the Kwara Central Senatorial District being represented by Saraki are presently ongoing. And according to Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, the new ABS chairman, they will all be one hundred percent completed with more of such people oriented projects in the pipeline.
Saraki is also handling the Agba Dam waterworks expansion site, a multimillion naira project which was flagged off last year but to be completed in few months expected to make water available in every households in Ilorin Metropolis.
On the religious front, being the first Muslim Senate President, Saraki has had several impacts on the Islamic religion in the state and across the country and the central mosque project would readily come to mind even though it was done during his stint as governor. But presently, Saraki is single handedly building the Agbaji central mosque estimated to cost over N375m. The structure was recently pulled down and work has commenced in earnest on the gigantic project. Also as the senate president, Saraki assured Kwarans and Muslims generally in the country that the senate would not do anything to undermine the religion of Islam when issues were being raise about the inheritance bill sponsored by the Ekiti Senator Biodun Olujimi.
There is no doubt that Saraki has clout and influence that cut across nearly all the sectors in the country. Little wonder he was described by President Buhari himself as one of the most influential politicians in the country today recently. And to be sure, even while the opposition would like to paint his sterling performances in state and country black, his achievements has dotted nearly all aspects of human endeavours.
As the President of the Senate, Saraki used his influence and capacity to ensure that many federal projects hitherto being handled by the state were included in the federal budget in 2017 and 2018. And those that the state had already gone far on recently got reimbursement from the central government like the N615 million for the Kishi/Kaiama road. His influence has also been noticed in the Jebba federal road project which was initially an eyesore and a nightmare for motorists plying that axis.
The point worth noting is that the Ilorin community stands to lose a lot in terms of projects and appointments if somebody else occupies that position. While it is obvious that such arrangement will short-change Kwara state in many regards going forward, it is expedient for everybody in the state to jealously guide that seat and join hands to overwhelmingly support Saraki to continue to bring unprecedented development in all spheres of Ilorin especially now that his political persecution garbed in the robe of fighting corruption is gradually fading by the day.
Says Senator Salman “It (appointments) mean a lot to Kwara State and our presence can now be felt more now than ever at the national level. Whatever we can do in terms of development and appointment to our fellow people, we should do and add more to whatever achievement our leader (Saraki) has achieved for the state in general.
“Saraki is not God, even God cannot satisfy everybody and within the limit of his powers is doing his very best and marvellously very well, we have to appreciate him for that.
“What we can learn from this is that if given the necessary support and encouragement, the sky is just the beginning for us as a community. So let us continue to stand by him to be able to stand and look back that he has the support of his people’.
