The
inauguration of Senator Bukola Saraki as the president of the Senate on the 9th
of June, 2015 was shocking to Nigerians. People patiently awaited a decent
explanation of what transpired that saw the election of Saraki in the manner
that he was elected. It did not seat well with many Nigerians but with an open
mind, we waited in the hope that an enlightened analyst would be able to put to
words the reason why it happened the way it did.
In
the typical arrogance of the average West African, several senators ‘grabbed
the mic’ and threw words at Nigerians and as far as they were concerned they
had provided enough reason to the electorate and that was that. The glee with
which they flung words at Nigerians again showed that they had gotten what they
wanted from the electorate and whatever did not tally with their personal
aspirations was considered to ‘not worth their time.’
In
an article published in ‘This Day’ of 13th June 2015, Dele Momodu tried
to explain in simple terms and in clear language that the people could
comprehend, I did not under that the PDP group that joined forces with APC had
not been duly considered or compensated for the risk they took in confronting
the leaders of PDP. Until then, I was looking at Saraki as one of those who
defected to APC late in the day, I did
not look at it from the angle of Saraki uniting with the other 5 PDP governors
who delivered their states to APC . Until
then, I believed that it was the people who made their choice and not their
governors that made them vote out Dr. Jonathan. Until then, I did not see
things from the perspective of people claiming that Senator Bola Tinubu was
imposing candidates of his choice to be appointed, selected or elected into
various offices. I did not and I still do not see the possibility of Tinubu
being able to laud his will over that of the APC as a corporate entity or the
President Muhammadu Buhari.
I
am firmly convinced that the earliest politicians in Nigeria who failed to
approach equity with clean hands in that under their huge agbadas and babarigas,
they were armed with:
· 1. Dubious intentions towards one another
· 2. Tribalism
with which they erected a faulty
foundation for democracy in Nigeria and on the bad foundation, we continue to
hope that our style of politics will work in favour of Nigeria.
The coalition formed by CPC, ACN, PDP,
APGA, ANPP, etc which birthed APC was another chance presented to Nigeria on a
platter of gold under the aegis of Tinubu to work with frameworks in building
structures but again, the old brigade with their stale mentality crept in once
again and have thrown a spanner in the works. Like the proverbial sower who
sowed his good seeds and went home only for the enemy to come in at night to
sow tares among the good seeds; Nigerians must wait until the thorns can be
clearly identified before weeding them out of the system.
In the course of achieving his
personal ambition, Saraki has succeeded in providing the platform for PDP to
have a much stronger foothold in the Senate and sadly, this has greatly exposed
ACN. And to a large extent this will have its impact on the administratio of
Buhari. Now Saraki is no longer a member of the PDP but he will no longer be
trusted in the ruling party so where does he truly belong? Strangely, the
deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu while speaking at his constituency in Enugu
jubilantly informed his people that he is willing to work with the ruling party
if the members so desire but that he is also fully ready for a fight if that is
what they prefer. Furthermore, he told
his people that PDP will come back to the centre stage in 2019. While the
ruling party see nothing wrong with the present arrangements, other politicians
are warming up to capitalize on the rancor among them.
Tinubu’s immense contribution to the success
of the coalition does not make him free of corruption; for every case he has
anywhere, he will have to answer for his actions in due season so people should
stop using his name as an excuse to work against the interest of the coalition.
The issue at hand is the need for Nigerians to begin to work with frameworks
and not shift the post to suit anybody’s whims.
GOD bless Nigeria.