By Musa Idris Buko
Dear Barrister Aliyu Alhassan, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Kwara State on Job Creation.
If “zoning is Saraki’s strategy to recapture power in Kwara”, it means then that Saraki is indeed very intelligent, calculative, wise and has listening ears for the oppressed, marginalized and crassly excluded people of Kwara North, who have been the victim of total exclusion from a Kwara For All project since our over 54 years journey as a State.
Sadly, the same Saraki was condemned and blamed for APC’s choice of Gov. AA from Kwara Central in 2019, after the PDP settled for Hon. Abdulrazaq Atunwa to fly its gubernatorial flag. Why cannot the APC also adopt the same approach, as justified in 2019, since it emulated same in 2019? Or is it just a mere deceit and egoistic pursuit of gluing to power at all costs?
Dear Kwara Northerners, we must join hands together to actualize this course, it is not about Saraki, it is beyond him, we have been given opportunity to actualize our collective struggle to have a Governor for Kwara from us. I can assure us, if we fail to sacrifice political appointments, opportunities, relevance and patronage for 2023, not only would 2027 or any KN Gubernatorial Agenda be a mirage, but also impossible on that benchmark forever. And most importantly Barrister, I urge you and other supporters of Gov. AA’s 2nd term to do your campaign for his second term on issues and not link or blackmail Saraki with our genuine agenda for power shift on the touchstone of equity, fairness and justice.
PDP’s zoning of Governorship Flag to Kwara North in 2023 followed democratic process and struggle between the North and Central blocs of the party, we all saw how the power shift argument was justifiably superior compared to that pushed by the Central bloc. How then is it about Saraki?
But then, Saraki is a big factor in not only Kwara but also national politics. Whether we take it or not, he is the most senior political stalwart Kwara ever had in any democratic dispensation. He was the first ever two terms Governor (consistently) in Kwara, the first Chairman Governors’ Forum in Nigeria (and the only one in Kwara), a former Special Adviser to President Obasanjo on Budget, a former Senator of the Federal Republic, and hugely a former President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the highest ever attained by any Kwaran) in a democratic dispensation. This makes him an indispensable factor in Kwara and Nigeria politics. If such a personality conscientiously support our course for power shift in 2023, what is the big deal in that?
I had always asked both in private and public, who is that Kwara Northerner that discussed Kwara North’s power shift demand with Gov. AA whether for 2023, or 2027? What is the Governor’s posture to that? Till date, no answer and that is why I always see the advocates of KN2027 as wishful thinkers and daydreamers to say the least.
Lastly, it is important for Kwara Northerners to tread softly on this KN2023 Agenda, we should not bad mouth this genuine struggle, or see it as a personalty’s “strategy to recapture power in Kwara”. We have more to say about politicians supporting the Governor’s second term too, but we ll never tread this lowly insinuations but facts and issues. Any politician of Kwara North extraction that bad mouths, condemns, or sees it as a “strategy to recapture power in Kwara” is insincere and I can assure you; is also making the Kwara North Gubernatorial Project a taboo for himself not only in 2027 but also forever. We ll’ archive all we say and write for future reference.
